Garda found guilty of assaulting women in row over lift

A garda has been found guilty of assaulting two women in Co Tipperary after an argument broke out over a €15 fee for a lift home following a night out.

Brian Hanrahan (34), of Ballintotty, Nenagh, denied the charges against him at Nenagh District Court, which involved punching and kicking one woman and hitting the other.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath adjourned sentencing until April 27th to allow probation and psychological reports on Hanrahan to be prepared. She said his attitude on the night of the assaults gave “rise to concern”.

The defence said it intended to appeal the verdict.

Hanrahan was shot in the back and the leg during a botched robbery at an ATM while he was on holiday in New Orleans in 2015. He had to undergo emergency surgery but later resumed garda duty in Limerick. He told the court that after what happened to him in the US, the last thing he wanted was “an altercation of any description”.

The court last week heard that Hanrahan hit the two women - Emer Kelly and Aisling King - after a row broke out near Lisbunny graveyard at about 4am on March 6th last. Hanrahan was off duty at the time and claimed he acted in self-defence because one of the women “launched herself” at him as she wanted €50 for the lift home.

Judge MacGrath found an assault did take place and that harm was caused to both women.

999 call

The judge said she found Hanrahan’s account of a 999 call he made after the incident in which he said there were ‘six or eight of them ‘and ‘they’re a f**king crowd of psychopaths’ was “not an accurate account of what went on”.

Hanrahan’s solicitor Daniel O’Gorman said the verdict would have “very far-reaching implications” for his client. He has no previous convictions and is married with two children, aged six months and three years, the court heard.

The accused had been socialising in Nenagh on March 6th and was looking for a lift in the town square when he approached three young women and agreed to pay them €15 to €20 to drive him home.

Ms Kelly told the court that Hanrahan became “very rude” in the car, describing Nenagh as “a shit hole” and telling them he would “kill anyone” who took him on in a fight.

Ms Kelly said Hanrahan was asked to get out of the car and that when she asked him for the money “he pulled my hair and beat me to the ground”. She said Hanrahan “kicked or punched me about six or eight times”.

She denied a claim by the defence that she had attacked Hanrahan because she wanted extra money for the lift.

Ms King said Hanrahan hit her twice in the face when she asked him to stop.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Ms Kelly said she has had trouble sleeping since the incident. “I couldn’t believe a guard could do this to me. The guards are meant to be there to help.”

Ms King said in her victim impact statement that she now has a “fear of guards” after what had happened.