‘Butterflies and nerves’: Donegal darts player convicted of assault at Kerry venue
The KerrymanAt Tralee District Court, Andrew Barron (48) explained he had come to Killarney for a darts competition at the Gleneagle Hotel in 2024.
Facing a charge of assault causing harm, Mr Barron of Donegal Road, Ballybofey, Donegal told the court he only had a few drinks on the night in question.
Unfortunately for Mr Barron, his account differed from other testimonies and CCTV footage from November 9 which was played in court before Judge David Waters.
In the pub at about 1.30am, as a piano player tapped his feet and tickled the keys of a white baby grand while a crowd danced around him, Mr Barron rested quietly at the bar because, in his words, he was tired after “travelling and walking on our feet, throwing darts all day”.
He told the judge he had four or five drinks over the course of six or seven hours. “We had a long day,” he said. “Butterflies and nerves.”
Mr Barron alleged staff asked him to move away from the bar and he explained he was a guest in the hotel and asked to finish his drink before leaving.
“I says, ‘I’m staying in the hotel, I’ll just go out this way’,” he said.
He said he was “pushed in the chest” and only then did he push the night manager, James Digby.
“There was no intent, no malice in it,” he said. “I was pushed in the chest that night. I said, ‘I’m a resident, just let me finish me drink’. I just felt like, ‘why are you trying to throw me out?’”
But the court saw CCTV footage showing Mr Barron linger at the bar after he was approached by a female security guard, whom he appeared to ignore.
The footage then showed the manager and a security guard approach and talk to him. In it, Mr Barron pushed Mr Digby, who fell to the floor, and staff escorted him from the bar.
In testimony, the manager said he asked Mr Barron to move from the clearing area to another part of the bar and Mr Barron swore at him. As the discussion escalated, the security guard took the defendant’s left arm and the manager, a former security guard himself, tried to take the glass from the defendant’s right hand.
“The next minute, I just flew through the air,” Mr Digby told the judge.
He told the court he sustained lacerations to his right hand, a dislocated shoulder and had undergone surgery to join the nerves in his tendons after the assault.
“I just wanted him to go to a safer place,” he told the court.
The defendant’s barrister, Patrick Barrett, put it to the manager that his client responded physically after he was “manhandled and pushed”, an allegation the manager denied.
The manager’s testimony was supported by the security guard, Dennis O’Connor, who testified the defendant “got very aggressive, straight away”.
“He said he was going to finish his drink and he wasn’t going anywhere until he finished it.”
A garda also testified that Mr Barron was highly intoxicated when he arrived at the hotel that night.
Mr Barron took the stand last. When Inspector Garry Carroll asked when he had his first drink, he replied it was “probably about 11.30”.
The cross-examination continued in another direction, before Mr Barrow clarified he meant 11.30am.
“Half-eleven in the morning?” asked the judge with evident surprise.
The defendant replied he did not have many drinks.
“I find that hard to believe, to be fair,” said the inspector. “I must put it to you that you consumed too much alcohol.” “I wasn’t drunk,” said Mr Barron. “I was slightly intoxicated.”
“Sure, the video speaks for itself,” said the judge.
He noted the recording showed a security guard had already approached him, giving ample time before the manager and second security guard arrived.
The judge convicted for assault causing harm and public order for public intoxication, stating he was “clearly very intoxicated”.
“He pushed him, he assaulted him and, as a result, this man suffered serious injuries,” said the judge.
He praised the “remarkable restraint” of staff.
“Everything was done to give this man an opportunity,” said the judge.
He adjourned the case to February 3 for sentencing.