A judge has cleared a “crocked” intercounty footballer of assault arising from an incident at a house party in Ennis. At Ennis District Court on Wednesday, Judge Patrick Durcan said that there was nothing in the case that put him into a position to finding Brian Flanagan and his two co-defendants guilty and he dismissed the charges against them.
Last November, Mr Flanagan was forced to retire from football at the age of 29 after being unable to recover from a ruptured cruciate ligament injury he sustained in 2013 in a Kildare league game with Dublin.
Employed as a financial adviser, Mr Flanagan was a regular in Kildare’s defence during Kieran McGeeney’s six-year reign as manager, including one appearance in an All-Ireland football semi-final.
Mr Flanagan, Edgewood Court, Longwood, Co Meath, Philip Haslam, Kilmore, Enfield, Co Meath, and Ian Farrell, Coolreagh, Enfield, all denied the assault of Cork man Tomás Power. In evidence, Mr Power outlined 17 assaults on his body during the incident outside a house in the Tobartaoscáin area of Ennis in the early hours of November 9th, 2013.
Mr Power alleged that he was assaulted by the three men outside the house. The State case was heard in March and all three defendants gave evidence on Wednesday. However, in his ruling, Judge Durcan said that the injuries sustained by Mr Power were akin to marks you would find from a bunch of 10-year-olds out playing football.
Judge Durcan said: “Mr Power talked about 17 specific assaults and outlining the most vicious kicks and punches. We had Mr Power outlining injuries that quite frankly when the photos were being handed up to me, I simply dreaded having to look at them. Instead, I had a strapping young man with a scar under his eye and marks on his body.”
Judge Durcan said there were conflicts of evidence in the case and “there is nothing in the independent evidence to assist the court”.
In his evidence, Mr Power said that he vomited after being assaulted and was brought to Shannondoc where he was treated. He had to get stitches for an injury under an eye and suffered swelling to his cheek and head. Photographs also showed marks to his upper body. Mr Power denied striking Mr Haslam or instigating the row with Mr Flanagan.
In evidence yesterday, Mr Flanagan admitted that he did trade punches with Mr Power, but they were in self-defence. “I just felt that I had to defend myself. Tomás threw the first punch. He had instigated by throwing the slap on Philip. He was put out of the house and he kicked the front door. At that stage, I felt I had to approach.”
He added: “It wasn’t my house, but I felt that I had to confront him. It wasn’t my intention to get physical in any way, but after the first punch was thrown at me, I had to defend myself.”
Mr Power's girlfriend, Michelle Coughlan, said she saw Mr Flanagan kick Mr Power into the head. However, Mr Flanagan said: "I never assaulted anyone. I never kicked anyone."
Mr Flanagan required the aid of crutches in court yesterday after telling Judge Durcan that he an osteotomy for his knee three weeks ago. He said this operation had to take place after an operation for his ruptured cruciate did not work out.
