A man allegedly attacked by Limerick All-Ireland winning hurler Kyle Hayes was subjected to a vicious, sustained and unjustified assault after the All-Star acted as a "policeman" when he saw the injured party talking to two women he knew, a trial has heard.
Kyle Hayes, 25, with an address at Ballyashea, Kildimo in Co Limerick has denied two violent disorder charges and one charge of assault causing harm to Cillian McCarthy, 24.
Craig Cosgrave, 24, from Caherally, Grange, Co Limerick, denies one charge of violent disorder.
All charges arise from events alleged to have happened early on 28 October 2019, in and outside the Icon Nightclub on Upper Denmark Street, Limerick.
The trial has heard that the alleged injured party, Cillian McCarthy, was "set upon" in the nightclub by Mr Hayes and others, after Mr Hayes took exception to Mr McCarthy talking to two women, with whom Mr Hayes was acquainted, and that several punches were thrown.
It also heard Mr McCarthy was attacked outside the nightclub on the street and seen by two gardaí being kicked and punched, while on the ground, by Mr Hayes and another male who is not before the court.
In his closing speech to the jury at the Circuit Criminal Court in Limerick, John O'Sullivan BL, prosecuting, said that Mr Hayes assumed the role of a "policeman" in Smyth’s bar, downstairs from the Icon nightclub, and Mr McCarthy had said Mr Hayes was "marking Cillian’s card" because Cillian was talking to a girl whom Mr Hayes knew.
"One thing that is absolutely clear is that it was Kyle Hayes who was the aggressor," Mr O’Sullivan said.
Earlier in the trial, Mr McCarthy said that Mr Hayes approached him and his friend, Craig Cosgrave, in the bar and warned them to "stay the f… away" from the two females, became aggressive and shouted "do you know who the f… I am".
He said later, another man not before the court threw the first punch at him, hitting him in his right eye, and then this other man and Mr Hayes were punching him "continuously" on the head.
"He was the one intervening," Mr O’Sullivan said in court in relation to Mr Hayes, "and adopting the role of a monitor in relation to this girl, to make sure she wasn’t stepping out of line on this bank holiday night."
It was clear, he said, that Mr McCarthy did not in any way offer any violence to Mr Hayes in Smyth’s bar, which is downstairs from the nightclub.
'Punching vigorously'
He said that CCTV footage from the Icon nightclub showed Mr Hayes "punching vigorously" and it could not have been said that it was self-defence, according to Mr O’Sullivan.
It was alleged during the trial that Mr Cosgrave got involved in a row on the dancefloor of the nightclub in an attempt to defend Mr McCarthy, and threw a punch during the incident inside the premises.
Mr McCarthy said in court last week that, when he left the nightclub, bruised and bloodied, he was pursued by Mr Hayes and others and the latter then began throwing punches at him and Mr Cosgrave. He was knocked to the ground, he said, and "attacked and stamped on" by Mr Hayes and others and he sustained 20 punches or kicks during this time.
He suffered a fractured eye socket as a result of the assault, he said.
Detective Garda Dean Landers said during the trial that he saw a tall man giving numerous kicks to a man on the ground and when he identified himself as a Garda to this man and grabbed him, the man told him to "f… off". The man then ran from the scene but was caught and gave his name as Kyle Hayes, the court heard.
Garda Daniel O’Riordan, who was on duty with Garda Landers, identified Mr Hayes as the man he saw kicking a man on the ground in the head and upper body, at least twice, and said he had absolutely no doubt that the man was Kyle Hayes.
In an interview with gardaí conducted in January of 2020, Mr Hayes said that what Mr McCarthy alleged in a garda statement "did not happen" and he denied that he was part of a group who attacked Mr McCarthy.
He said he ran away from gardaí on the night because they started roaring at him, having picked him out because they knew his face.
Today, the prosecuting barrister said Mr McCarthy was "pursued by a mob" including Mr Hayes outside the nightclub, and the evidence showed a strong case that Mr Hayes was part of a "sustained, vicious and wholly unjustified attack" on Mr McCarthy.
Mr Hayes’s demeanour on the night was one of "aggression," Mr O’Sullivan said.
Brian McInerney SC, for Mr Hayes, said in his closing speech that his client was a well-known inter-county hurler and was not looking for any favours from the jury, but was looking for fairness.
Three instigators
In relation to the incident inside the nightclub, he said there were three instigators and his client was not one of them, and he was not one of the people "thrown out" of the nightclub after the incident.
A Garda sergeant who arrived at the scene with the two other gardaí who identified Mr Hayes had said that he knew Mr Hayes from hurling, Mr McInerney said.
This sergeant saw three men assaulting Mr McCarthy on the street and did not know any of those assailants. "That means he does not see Kyle Hayes kicking Cillian McCarthy on the ground."
He also said that, if Mr McCarthy was subjected to an "unmerciful kicking on the side of the street" which lasted for two or three minutes, where were the resulting injuries, apart from a fractured eye socket which the trial heard about from two doctors.
'Doubt'
The fact that the sergeant knew Mr Hayes but did not see him kick Mr McCarthy on the ground was a "doubt" in the prosecution’s case, he said.
Mr McInerney also referred to incorrect documents which had been given to the jury at the outset of the trial, and an incorrect map, and described them as "the dodgy documents" and the "dodgy map" and said it was "wrong" that they had been produced in court. "If they get away with it now, where does it end."
At the close of his speech, Mr McInerney referred to the fact that the case has been hanging over his client for four years and asked the jury to: "Give him [Kyle Hayes] back his life and take this chalice of torture from his lips and give him back to the bosom of his family."
In his closing speech Seamus Roche SC, appearing for Mr Cosgrave, said that when his client and Mr McCarthy were talking to the two women in the bar, there was no imposition on either of the women or any need for someone to "have their back". They were enjoying themselves and were then approached by Mr Hayes who "seems to have been the policeman or self-appointed chaperone" in this situation.
In relation to the violent disorder charge against his client, Mr Roche said there appeared to have been some "pushing and shoving" in the nightclub but the other people present on the dance floor did not appear to have been "overly concerned" about what was going on.
Some were smiling and afterwards some seemed happy there was more room on the dancefloor when some people involved left, he said.
"It happens on sidelines, it happens in football pitches, it happens in pubs and in nightclubs. People of reasonable firmness accept that this is the case."
He suggested to the jury that the only reason this part of events of that evening was before the court was because "it was a pre-amble to what happened outside".
Judge Dermot Sheehan has begun his charge to the jury of seven men and five women. He will resume his charge in the morning and the jury will then begin considering their verdicts.
