A high-ranking disabled snooker player who was lying on a street in a drunken state while out celebrating a win in the world championship has been acquitted of assaulting two gardaí who tried to arrest him.
A garda sergeant had given evidence that CCTV footage did not show him kneeing the defendant Colvin O’Brien (39) to the back, but rather an attempt to “nudge” the defendant to move him.
His colleague told the court that the arresting officers suffered “an endless amount of abuse” and that the defendant had told him: “Your mother should have swallowed you.”
Mr O’Brien, of Heather Mills Mews, Graiguecullen had pleaded not guilty at Carlow Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Sergeant Ronan Devaney, to assaulting Garda Matthew Willoughby and to threatening and abusive or insulting behaviour at John Street, Carlow Town on August 29, 2024.
Mr O’Brien pleaded guilty to being intoxicated in a public place on the same date and the same place.
It was the State’s case that Sgt Devaney and Gda Willoughby were called to the scene as Mr O’Brien was lying in an intoxicated state on the ground. An ambulance crew had arrived and the gardaí tried to assist Mr O’Brien in getting to his feet.
Brian O’Shea BL, prosecuting, said in opening the case to the jury that the gardaí attempted to arrest O’Brien due to his aggressive behaviour. The defendant was alleged to have swung back his elbow and stuck Sgt Devaney in the chin while he and Gda Willoughby were trying to affect an arrest.
It was further alleged that Mr O’Brien smacked Gda Willoughby on the back and tried to kick out at him.
Sgt Willoughby told the jury: “He is the worst individual I came across in five years – I cannot describe how abusive he was.”
Bairbre Ryan BL, defending, suggested to Sgt Devaney in cross-examination that her client “felt he was under threat and he was acting in self defence”.
“I cannot see how,” the sergeant replied.
“Once he got up, you and your colleague were the aggressors and he was reacting to your heavy-handedness,” Ms Ryan suggested to Sgt Devaney.
“I would say it was the other way around and we were responding to his aggression,” Sgt Devaney said.
The jury were played CCTV footage of the incident and later viewed that footage during their deliberations.
Ms Ryan suggested to Gda Willoughby that “you pushed his head to the ground, that you kneed him in the back that your colleague kneed him in the back three times, and that you pushed his face into your steel-toe boot – he is a disabled man with sight”.
Gda Willoughby replied that “reasonable force was used here due to the high level of aggression and abuse and I think the CCTV footage captures that”.
“Mr O’Brien was reacting to the threat to which he understood that day,” counsel said.
“I cannot see how he was threatened in any way,” Gda Willoughby said.
The jury returned verdicts of not guilty on all charges following an hour of deliberations.
Judge Mary Morrissey placed Mr O’Brien under a 12-month probation bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a year in relation to his admission on being intoxicated in a public place.
Judge Morrissey told him he was excused and free to leave.
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM THE TRIAL
Sgt Devaney told the jury that he responded to a call for assistance at 7.30pm that evening and found Mr O’Brien lying on the footpath. He said he and his colleague Gda Willoughby approached the man.
He noticed that there was an ambulance present and the back doors were open. The officers asked Mr O’Brien if he would like to go to Kilkenny Hospital and the man indicated that he would.
He said Gda Willoughby offered him his hands to try and help Mr O’Brien to his feet.
Sgt Devaney told Brian O’Shea BL, prosecuting, that the man made some comments about Gda Willoughby being a student or a very young garda before he slapped the garda on the back.
He said Mr O’Brien’s “demeanour changed and he got quite aggressive”. He noticed his fists were clenched – “it was very apparent to us that he had become more aggressive”, the Sgt told the jury.
He said Gda Willoughby then told Mr O’Brien he was going to arrest him. Sgt Devaney said the man began to resist the arrest more strongly while the two gardaí attempted to put handcuffs on him.
“I had a hold of his right arm and I was trying to put it behind his back,” he said while Gda Willoughby was attempting to do the same thing.
“He thew his elbow back and caught me in the chin – I immediately knew that the teeth had been impacted,” Sgt Devaney said.
“He was constantly trying to free his arms, he was throwing out kicks, at one point it looked like he was trying to bite Gda Willoughby’s leg. It continued like that for about ten minutes,” Sgt Devaney said, before he told the jury that they eventually got handcuffs on Mr O’Brien before moving him into a doorway.
The officers called for assistance and ultimately managed to get Mr O’Brien into a garda van to Carlow Garda Station.
A report from Sgt Devaney’s dentist was read into the record. It stated that he had generalised pain for about ten days, that he broke a filling in his tooth and a front tooth was chipped. Another tooth was impacted and the dentist said he may need a root canal on this tooth in the future. There was also a potential root fracture of another tooth.
CCTV footage was played to the court of the incident on John Street.
Bairbre Ryan BL, defending, asked Sgt Devaney in cross-examination why her client was moved into the doorway on John Street after the gardaí managed to handcuff him.
“I would imagine that is because it would be easier to hold him up,” he said, before he added it would also be safer to prevent him falling out in front of the traffic.
Ms Ryan identified a point on the footage when she said Sgt Devaney can be seen kneeing her client on the back three times.
She asked the sergeant if this was “reasonable force” used by him on her client.
Sgt Devaney said that is not what he was doing. He said he was trying to nudge Mr O’Brien to move him, rather than kneeing him.
“Mr O’Brien took that as him being under threat,” Ms Ryan said.
“I cannot speak for Mr O’Brien,” Sgt Devaney replied.
Ms Ryan said her client is blind in the left eye and was out that night, celebrating his win in the world disability snooker championship.
She put it to Sgt Devaney that her client told him not to hurt his eye during the course of his interaction with him.
“No, I did not hear him say that,” Sgt Devaney replied.
Ms Ryan submitted to Sgt Devaney that she did not see any reaction from him the CCTV footage after her client struck him with his elbow.
“I could not put my hand to my mouth because I was trying to affect an arrest. I did not feel the impact on my chin. I could feel the grittiness in my mouth and I knew my tooth had been chipped,” Sgt Devaney said.
He accepted photographs from counsel, which she said showed that her client had bruises under his eyes and bruising on the side of his body.
“He suffered those injuries as a result of the approach you and your colleague took that day,” Ms Ryan said.
“I do not know how he got those injuries,” Sgt Devaney replied.
Gda Willoughby told Mr O’Shea that he and Sgt Devaney approached Mr O’Brien that evening on John Street and said the accused “immediately became very abusive”.
He said there was “an endless amount of abuse”, that Mr O’Brien told him “your mother should have swallowed you” and also said “fuck off police”.
He said he offered Mr O’Brien a hand up to assist him in getting to his feet and the accused “appeared to accept it”.
“As I picked him up he slapped me on the back and pushed me in the chest. His fists were clenched. He told me ‘I am not going fucking anywhere’,” Gda Willoughby said.
“I cautioned him and said I was going to arrest him, he forcibly resisted arrest, he was not compliant at all,” Gda Willoughby said.
He said they eventually managed to get him off the ground and that Mr O’Brien “buried his head into my leg”.
“I thought he was going to bite me – he grabbed my leg in a vicelike grip. I could not get him off my leg,” Gda Willoughby said.
He said he eventually managed to free himself from Mr O’Brien and they managed to get him to his feet and handcuff him.
Gda Willoughby said Mr O’Brien began to throw back his head and he said he held Mr O’Brien’s head back to prevent him connecting with him. He said the accused then kicked his heel back at him and they put Mr O’Brien to the ground again.