Accused blames poteen following early morning assault of two men in Cork
Poteen was blamed by a man for assaulting two other men who intervened when he was rowing with his partner on the street in the early hours of the morning.
The accused man, Patrick Rolston, formerly of St Michael’s Lawn, Mahon, who has since moved to Bantry, County Cork, faced sentencing at Cork District Court on two counts of assault.
Judge Con O’Leary imposed a €500 on Rolston, 40, on each of the assault charges and also imposed a suspended four-month sentence.
Inspector Seán McCarthy said that on May 17, 2018 Garda Wayne Cronin was on duty at Tuckey Street at 3am. He met with two men who informed him that they had been assaulted. One of them had a burst lip and a mark on his jaw.
The two men told Garda Cronin they had been walking along Tuckey Street when they saw a man and woman arguing. They became concerned as the man was very aggressive.
When they intervened the man became very aggressive towards them and assaulted them.
Contacted for the sentencing hearing for Rolston the two men declined the opportunity to make victim impact statements, Insp McCarthy said.
Defence solicitor Donal Daly said, “He had been drinking poteen earlier in the day. He was with his partner of longstanding. There was a verbal altercation. Two men passing told him to cop on. He said it was none of their business and one word borrowed another. He struck out at these men.”
Mr Daly said the defendant’s partner had enough of his drinking. He said that Rolston stopped drinking after this incident but the relationship ended three months later.
The solicitor said the defendant was living and working in Bantry for the past seven months and had replaced drinking with physical training and had all the signs of it.
“It is entirely his own fault. It cost him his relationship with his partner. He has immersed himself entirely in work and training.
“He has no convictions for violence. He entirely lost the head and he should not have,” Mr Daly said.
