A CO Galway man who suffered a broken jaw in an attack while he was in Co Donegal working has given evidence in the trial of two local men charged with assault.
Carpenter Mark Smyth, from Ballinsasloe, gave evidence to Letterkenny District Court via video link from Australia during an 8am hearing this morning.
Before the court are 28-year-old Shane Diver, 45a Glencar Park, Letterkenny, and 22-year-old Conor McGowan, Windyhall, Letterkenny.
Diver faces two charges of assault while McGowan faces three charges.
In his evidence to the early morning hearing – set at 8am to facilitate Mr Smyth, Garda Sean Duffy said that on the 1st of July 2011 at Letterkenny Garda station at 2pm three males reported that they had been assaulted at the station house hotel on the 29 June.
They were John Kelly, Mark Smith and Enda Carthy from Ballinasloe.
They had been working in Letterkenny for a week as carpenters by trade.
At 8.30pm on June 28th they left the Station House Hotel where they had been staying and went to the Brewery Bar for food and a pint.
Then they proceeded to the Voodoo bar for more drink. While there got speaking to a male of thin build about 6ft tall wearing a blue t- shirt and a gold and silver chain around his neck.
This person talked to Mark Smyth, Smyth couldn’t understand his accent so asked his friend Enda Carty to engage in conversation with him. The conversation was about work.
They continued socialising and went to the ink nightclub upstairs in the voodoo. Enda Carty met the man again upstairs in the nightclub and they bought each other a drink each.
Enda Carty then left Voodoo early and returned to the hotel. But he had forgotten his key and walked back towards Voodoo to meet his two friends.
He met up with them and they made their way to the Station House. John Kelly walking slightly ahead of two other Galway men turned around noticed three males running a bit of a distance away.
Suddenly Enda Carty got a fist in the back of the head. A stand off ensued and an argument began.
The three injured parties tried to reason with the other males, said the Garda, asking the the male in the blue t-shirt and gold chain that had been drinking with Enda Carty why their friend had hit him.
Then another male landed on the scene and there was possibly another male in a car nearby. This all took place around 3.40 am on the Pearse Road beside the Station House Hotel.
Mark Smyth, after a short period of time trying to talk to the males, received a strike to the right hand side of his face on his jaw.
The next thing Smyth remembered was going into the Station House. Memory was hazy after receving the blow, he said.
John Kelly received two punches from two separate males. Enda Carty received the initial punch in the back of the head while walking to the hotel, the court heard.
Carty then confirmed in his statement that he received 2 or 3 other blows from the other males.
The Galway men then ran into the hotel to escape the melee, said Garda Duffy.
In his evidence via video link, Mark Smyth confirmed most of the evidence of what Garda Duffy said.
He said he had ten to 12 pints on the night and that he was “well oiled.”
He said he sustained a broken jaw from the attack and had to have surgery to put a wire in his jaw. He also lost a tooth.
He said: “I woke up the next morning after the attack and my pillow was covered in blood.”
He confirmed he went to work the next morning but after two hours realised there was something “seriously wrong” with him and he went to casualty.
He was later taken to Altnagelvin hospital for surgery.
Mr Carty and Mr Kelly have flown in from Madrid to give evidence later.
The trial before Judge Paul Kelly is continuing this afternoon.
Mr Diver and Mr McGowan deny all the charges. At hearing.
* COMMENTS ARE CLOSED ON ONGOING COURT CASES