Two sons of Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae have been found guilty of assault causing harm to a man during a night out in Kenmare on 28 December 2017.
Kevin Healy-Rae, 22, along with his brother Kerry County Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae, 23, of Sandymount, Kilgarvan, Co Kerry, and Malachy Scannell, 34, of Inchinacoosh, Kilgarvan, had all denied assault causing harm to 30-year-old Kieran James at East Park Lane, Kenmare, on the date in question.
Mr James, who is from the UK but whose mother is from Kilgarvan, Co Kerry, had sustained a broken nose, chipped tooth and bruises during the assault.
Judge David Waters said he was "absolutely satisfied" of the men's guilt and adjourned sentencing until 6 December.
He said that the victim, Mr James, was an "incredibly reliable witness" and the judge said he did not accept criticism of the garda investigation.
He said Jackie Healy-Rae was faced with a choice when his brother Kevin told him of an encounter at the chip van with Mr James.
Knowing his brother was intoxicated, he could have exercised proper judgement and instead he opted to get involved.
"To use a sporting parlance, he became the third man," the judge said.
Judge Waters said he was particularly struck by the evidence given of Jackie Healy-Rae "having the victim in a headlock, and smiling as he did it".
Speaking afterwards, the three men's solicitor Padraig O’Connell said they accepted the judge’s decision, but they do not agree with it and they will be appealing all convictions.
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Earlier, the District Court sitting in Tralee heard that Kevin Healy-Rae believed the incident on the night all started because of politics, because "of another family's hatred for his family".
Mr Healy-Rae told investigating gardaí that there are people all over the country who hate their family.
"Kerry is no different - I was brought up just to smile and walk away from it."
In the garda statement read out in court, Mr Healy-Rae said he was ordering chips on the night and noticed an older man staring at him in an intimidating fashion "passing smart remarks" and felt intimidated because he was on his own.
"I didn’t know this man but I recognised the people with him and they hate my family, mainly because of politics."
When asked if he saw his brother restrain Kieran James in a neck hold, he said he did not because one of his contact lenses had been knocked out during an alleged punch from Mr James during the scuffle.
He denied injuring Mr James in a second scuffle saying, "I’ve never injured anybody in my whole life. I am not a bad person and I would never do anything like that."
His brother, Kerry County Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae, said he saw a man lunging for his brother. He restrained him and told him he would let him go if he stopped.
"I grabbed him in a head lock and asked him to stop with my right arm." He said he would and walked away shouting abuse with a group of four/five people, members of the O’Sullivans."
Asked how that made him feel, he said he did not take any notice of it.
He denied punching Mr James in the subsequent scuffle on Main Street.
In his statement to gardaí, the third accused man - Malachy Scannell - denied striking anyone that night saying he just got a lift home from the Healy-Raes' sister Rosie.
Asked about who he had met earlier in the evening, he said he could not remember.
Garda Paul Cummins told the court that he and Garda Caroline Hennessy had responded to a disturbance on the main street at 3.15am. He said Kieran James was very shaken, had a bump on his head and blood coming from his noise.
Defence Counsel Brian McInerney suggested that the gardaí had decided the Healy-Rae brothers "were going to be put in the frame and that was that," a suggestion which was strongly denied by Garda Cummins.
Asked why gardaí had not pursued an assault allegation made by Kevin Healy-Rae two months later - Garda Cummins said that it was not a serious assault. He said Mr James had denied assaulting Mr Healy-Rae.
Garda Caroline Hennessy who also attended at the scene that night confirmed to Mr McInerney that she is one of a number of "dancing gardaí" after a post of her dancing while on duty at the Ring of Beara went viral on social media.
Mr McInerney asked if it was not "wholly inappropriate" for her to interact with a witness in the investigation.
He said among those to comment on the video was Concubhar O’Sullivan (aka Neilly O’Sullivan - one of the group who was with Kieran James on the night).
Garda Hennessy said she believed it was alright as long as it did not relate to the case.
She said she got hundreds of comments on the video which has been viewed up to one million times.
She told the court that she had sought CCTV footage from a number of businesses including SweetTreats - the chip van concerned.
The woman operating the van said the CCTV was not on that night, she was charging her phone and she did not want to make a complaint.
Earlier the court was told the only footage available was from a branch of AIB but it was of poor quality.
Judge Waters said he viewed it without comment from the State and in it you could clearly see three men in a group running up the street, engaging in an assault and walking away.
Addressing Judge Waters Defence Counsel Brian McInerney urged him to dismiss the charges.
He said there was insufficient evidence of any kind and argued that if the case was before a jury they would not convict on the evidence before the court.
He said this was an attempt to put down the Healy-Raes.
"There was manifest unfairness from beginning to end in this investigation," he said.
He said the only medical evidence before the court is from Kevin Healy-Rae who reported an assault on that night to gardaí two months later.
Inspector Paul Kennedy said the case was conducted comprehensively. No one in the gardaí made a "unilateral decision" to prosecute the Healy-Raes.
It was the decision of the Director of Public Prosecution and there is clear evidence of assault against the three men.
