A 43-year-old man who head-butted his employer following an incident in work claimed he was acting in self-defence, Fermanagh court has heard.
Thomas Keaney of Feddans Road, Enniskillen, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared before court.
He was handed 150 hours of community service and ordered to pay compensation of £300 to his employer.
A prosecutor outlined to the court that on November 21 last year, police received a report from the injured party, Frankie Rooney, claiming that he had been assaulted by an employee.
A statement was taken from Mr Rooney who had a cut to the bridge of his nose.
Mr Rooney’s son who witnessed the incident also gave a statement to officers. The court heard that the defendant and his employer were having a discussion about work that was carried out by Keaney when he head-butted Mr Rooney.
Police officers went to the accused’s home and arrested him for the offence. He was released on police bail and returned to Enniskillen Police Station on December 10 where he admitted the offence during police interview and said it was in self-defence.
Keaney told officers he was not sure what Mr Rooney was going to do to him and described him as being “up in his face”.
The prosecutor noted that the defendant stated during police interview: “I did it to him before he did it to me.”
The court heard that Keaney had been working for Mr Rooney for three years and claimed that his employer had been very abusive towards him during that period.
Details of events leading up to the incident were outlined in the pre-sentence report, however these were not read out in court.
Defence solicitor John Quinn stated: “It is significant that immediately prior to this the two parties were head to head. He accepts he should not have reacted like this and he acted completely out of character.
“The two references shows him to be a man who is not disposed to aggression or violence. The injury sustained by the this man was at a lower level and described as being 0.5cm in depth which is indicative of the level of force involved.
“There as no premeditation and that’s very apparent from the evidence. He is a man who, in 26 years, has never been before the court or come to police attention. He is very much a family man in a stable family relationship. From the outset his concerns is that it should not have happened and the consequences for his family. He is genuinely remorseful and he didn’t want to see anyone getting hurt and is sorry for what has happened.”
District Judge Nigel Broderick gave Keaney 150 hours of community service and to pay compensation of £300 to Mr Rooney.
He added: “I have listened carefully to what your solicitor has said and to the contents from the report. It has been described as being a one-off and you did express remorse during interview and the pre-sentence report.”
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