A garda who was convicted of assaulting two women during a row over a lift home from a night out has won his appeal against the conviction.
Brian Hanrahan, with an address at Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was found guilty last year of assaulting Emer Kelly and Aisling King, causing them harm, in the early hours of 6 March 2016.
He received suspended sentences of six months and three months in the district court.
The 34-year-old, who survived being shot near an ATM by an armed robber while on holiday in New Orleans in 2015, appealed the district court verdicts and his appeal was allowed at Nenagh Circuit Court.
Judge Thomas Teehan said that, while he was not disbelieving the young women who gave evidence against Mr Hanrahan, there was a "residual doubt" concerning his guilt.
Ms Kelly told the court yesterday that Mr Hanrahan kicked her in the face and punched her several times after she asked him for €15 which they had agreed he would pay for a lift home.
Ms King said that Mr Hanrahan hit her twice on the face when she tried to stop him assaulting Ms Kelly.
He told the appeal hearing that he was trying to stop Ms Kelly from hitting and kicking him when he hit her.
"I'm sorry about everything that happened, but more so about that, than anything. I didn't want to hit her, but the situation I was in, I felt I had to."
He said the allegation that he hit Ms Kelly six to eight times was "ridiculous" and that as soon as he hit her once, she stopped.
The incident happened at about 4am on Sunday 6 March 2016 after he asked Ms King, Ms Kelly and another of their friends to give him a lift from Nenagh to his home about 4km away.
They did not know each other beforehand.
In the car, the atmosphere became "awkward" and "uncomfortable" following comments he made about people in Nenagh and, eventually, Ms Kelly started demanding he pay €50 to Ms King, the driver.
When the car stopped and he got out, near Lisbunny graveyard some distance short of his home, the car started edging behind him and he thought it was going to touch his leg.
Ms Kelly jumped out of the car, asked for the money and grabbed his wrist, ripped his shirt open and started kicking him on the shin and hitting him in the face. "It was a kind of frenzy," Mr Hanrahan told the court.
The other girls were laughing in the car but then he "hit her back" and it stopped.
Ms King got out of the car and called him a scumbag and he pushed her away with his hands. He did not hit her, he said.
"If I could take it all back, I would," Mr Hanrahan said in court. "It's easily the worst thing that ever happened to me. I'm sorry the girls were upset by it and I'm sorry that Emer Kelly has an injury. I'm sorry for the whole lot. If I could have it back again, I wouldn't get into that situation ... At the time I did what I felt I had to do."
Judge Teehan said that if Ms Kelly had sustained six to eight blows to the face from Mr Hanrahan, who is 1.90m (6'3") compared to her 1.60m (5'3"), more damage would be expected to the facial area.
The injury she did receive, including a tooth left hanging, swollen upper and lower lips and a laceration to one lip, was "consistent with one blow," the judge said.
He allowed the appeal against both convictions.
