A judge at Limerick Circuit Court has adjourned his decision on whether to activate a two-year suspended sentence for violent disorder imposed on Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes last March.
Hayes was convicted of dangerous driving in Cork last September which triggered the violent disorder sentence.
His appeal against that conviction was rejected last week.
Judge Dara Hayes said he would have to take time to consider the matter before deciding whether or not to activate all, part of, or none of Hayes's two-year suspended sentence.
Today's hearing opened with State solicitor Pádraig Mawe giving an outline of events which led to the triggering offence.
Hayes was convicted of dangerous driving last September in Mallow. He had been driving at a speed of 155km/h in a 100km/h zone and overtook nine vehicles on the N20 in July of last year.
He failed in his appeal to have the dangerous driving conviction reduced to careless driving at an appeals court in Cork. The conviction was upheld and he was banned from driving for two years and fined €250.
The court heard a summary of the circumstances surrounding the two-year suspended sentence imposed on the hurler in March 2024, after he was convicted of two counts of engaging in violent disorder at a nightclub in Limerick city in October 2019.
Hayes was acquitted by a jury of a charge of assaulting carpenter Cillian Mr McCarthy at the Icon nightclub. Mr MacCarthy sustained serious facial injuries.
A condition of Hayes's suspended sentences were that he be of good behaviour and not commit any other offences for two years from last March.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
In court today, defence counsel Brian McInerney acknowledged that Hayes had breached the terms of his suspended sentence but said the motoring offence was "a million miles" from the triggering offence and of a wholly different character.
He said the District Court penalty imposed on Hayes for the dangerous driving conviction was "a fraction" of the maximum fine which is six months in prison and €5,000.
He submitted that it would be unjust to revoke any or all of the suspended sentence.
Hayes' father Liam was called to give evidence and he said he relied solely on his son to run the family dairy farm after he had a coronary bypass in 2022 and was no longer "physically robust".
Letters were also read out in court from medical professionals confirming Liam Hayes' fragile condition and said the farm was being run by Kyle Hayes on behalf of his father.
Mr McInerney referred to the two brothers of Kyle Hayes saying they were "residing locally" and unavailable to render any assistance to Liam Hayes.
Judge Dara Hayes said he would deliver his ruling on Friday morning.
