Assault allegation brought by Bantry tenant against landlord is dismissed

JUDGE James McNulty dismissed a charge of assault that a tenant brought against his landlord.

In evidence for the prosecution at Bantry District Court, Mateusz Przydatek said he was walking down Barrack Street on November 23rd 2002 when he got hit in the head and fell onto the ground.

He said he saw Teddy O’Donovan of Ard Na Gashel, Glengarriff running away, and he took out his phone to record him.

The witness alleged that the accused returned to where he was and stabbed him with a stick while he was videoing him.

In cross-examination by Flor Murphy, the solicitor for the accused, the witness acknowledged that Teddy O’Donovan had tried but failed to have him removed as a tenant.

‘You don’t get on with each other?’ the solicitor put it to the witness to which Mateusz Przydatek replied: ‘No.’

The witness denied that he roared at Teddy O’Donovan, who had been engaged in clearing drains down a side lane off Barrack Street.

Mateusz Przydatek told the court he had headphones on and was minding his own business when the assault happened.

He denied Mr Murphy’s assertion that he was trying to make trouble.

Gda Albert Sweetnam said he and Gda Jason Daly were on mobile patrol when they received the allegation of assault.

‘Mateusz Przydatek said he had been assaulted by Teddy O’Donovan with a brush handle and that he had chased him down the street,’ the garda stated in evidence.

Gda Sweetnam said the accused showed them signs of ‘minor abdominal bruising’.

The gardaí also downloaded CCTV footage and looked at the recording made by the witness. Gardaí said the accused was given an opportunity to make a statement but he declined to do so.

In evidence in his own defence, Teddy O’Donovan denied the allegations, saying that what Mateusz Przydatek told the gardaí was lies.

He said the witness for the prosecution had come roaring at him that he would pull him off the ladder. It was at that point he said he got off his ladder and told the witness, ‘Get out of here.’

‘He came back up again,’ said the accused, who complained that he was ill at the time with ‘four holes in his stomach’ after an operation.

Insp Triona O’Mahony put it to the accused that he had lashed out at Mateusz Przydatek with the stick but the accused insisted: ‘That is not true.’

After hearing the evidence and viewing the CCTV footage, Judge James McNulty held that the evidence was inconclusive.

He said the CCTV footage did not show the entirety of the incident. ‘What I have seen is difficult to view, and not entirely clear or conclusive,’ he added.

Judge McNulty maintained there were inconsistencies in the evidence given by the witness in cross-examination. ‘He is an unreliable witness who has a history of conflict with the accused,’ said the judge.

‘He is a man with an agenda or a grudge,’ said the judge, who dismissed the charge of assault brought against the accused.