A one-punch street assault on an 80-year-old retired judge “was an attack on the administration of justice”, Ennis Circuit Court has heard.
Judge Francis Comerford imposed a seven month prison term on Jamie O’Connor (45), of Laurel Lodge, Clare Road, Ennis, for the assault on retired judge Joseph Mangan outside a cafe on June 14th.
He said that the purpose of the attack was that O’Connor recognised Mr Mangan as a former judge.
Mr Mangan served as a judge for 27 years and was the assigned district court judge for Clare from 2001 to October 2011, when he retired at the age of 67.
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The judge said: “It is an aggravating [offence] because what occurred is an attack on the administration of justice in the same way that an attack on a garda is an attack on the administration of justice.”
He also said that the attack was motivated because of Mr Mangan’s public service and this increased severity of the circumstances in the case.
Gda Sarah Murphy of Ennis Garda Station told the court that O’Connor had a very bad addiction to alcohol and had 155 previous convictions.
She said six of those were for assault, and those included assaults on a parish priest, a wheelchair user and a female Ennis cafe worker who O’Connor spat on.
Gda Murphy said that Mr Mangan made a statement of complaint after the assault in Ennis. There was a conversation between the two beforehand where O’Connor said that Mr Mangan had put him in jail in his time as a judge.
Gda Murphy said Mr Mangan told gardaí that O’Connor punched him with a closed fist into his left cheek below the eye while he was sitting outside the Gourmet Store at Barrack Court at lunchtime.
In the interview with gardaí, O’Connor said: “He never put me to jail. You can check the records - it doesn’t make sense.”
O’Connor told gardaí that he had stopped Mr Mangan on the street a few times over the years and told him “thanks for not putting me in jail”.
Counsel for Mr O’Connor, Pat Whyms BL (instructed by solicitor, Stiofán Fitzpatrick) said that the records confirm that Mr Mangan never jailed O’Connor.
O’Connor was first jailed in 2016, five years after Mr Mangan retired as judge.
Mr Whyms said Mr Mangan was “generous” in his attitude in the case where he declined to provide a victim impact statement and said in an email to the gardaí that he was “none the worse” as a result of the assault.
In sentencing, the judge said another aggravating factor in the case was that the victim was an 80-year-old man.
“The assault wasn’t behaviour out of character for Mr O’Connor and he has similar offending in the past and has attacked others under the influence of of alcohol,” he said.
However, the judge said O’Connor’s culpability was lessened because of severe addition to alcohol and there was a degree of irrationality to the assault “as this judge always gave him a chance and never imposed a custodial sentence on him”.
O’Connor has been in custody since June 15th and the judge stated his period in custody from June 15th to September 1st can be taken into account in his seven month prison term.
