Two Gardai have gone on trial accused of assaulting two brothers near a pool hall in Malahide, Co Dublin.
Mr Eugene and Mr Eric Donnelly claimed in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Garda Niall Colleran and Garda Brendan O'Grady punched and kicked them on a footpath and in a Garda car.
Mr Eric Donnelly's girlfriend said she saw Garda Colleran punch Eugene Donnelly in the face after he refused to hand over cans of beer. Both Donnelly brothers admitted to their counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, that they had previous convictions which included being drunk in public and using threatening and abusive behaviour.
Gardai Colleran and O'Grady, both of Malahide Garda Station, have pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm on Eugene and Eric Donnelly on June 29th, 1998.
Mr Eric Donnelly, aged 22, said he had drunk two cans of lager. He got sick outside the pool hall because he had an ulcer. A garda advised him to go home and he and the others started to walk away, but a garda punched Eugene in the face and head.
Cross-examined by Mr Gageby, he agreed he had a cannabis problem in the past, and had six or seven previous convictions.
Mr Eugene Donnelly, aged 19, said that on the night of the alleged assault a Garda car pulled up alongside him and a garda tried to take cans of beer from him. The garda repeatedly punched him in the face and Eric tried to stop the attack.