A JUDGE has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a Co Donegal man who refused to appear as a prosecution witness in a case where three men were beaten outside a Letterkenny hotel.
District Court Judge Paul Kelly signed the arrest warrant yesterday evening at Lettterkenny court, ordering the arrest of 28-year-old Patrick Boyce, with an address at Booragh, Ramelton.
Mr Boyce was the only witness who didn’t turn up for the trial of two Letterkenny men, accused of assaulting three Galway men who were staying in the town for a week in June 2011, working as carpenters.
Diver faces two charges of assault while McGowan faces three charges. They deny all the charges and have pleaded ‘not guilty’.
The three Galway men all gave evidence yesterday. The court sat at 8am to hear the evidence of Mark Smyth via videolink from Queensland in Australia. He suffered a broken jaw in the incident at 3.45am on June 29, 2011.
In the afternoon the court heard from his work colleagues Enda Carty and John Kelly who had flown home from Madrid to give their evidence.
However Mr Boyce failed to appear for either the 8am sitting of the court or the 2pm hearing.
At the earlier hearing solicitor Michael Shiels said he was there to represent Mr Boyce and inform the court that his client was unwilling to attend the court to give evidence.
He said his client had suffered intimidation and two assaults as a result of the case and he did not wish to appear. The solicitor did not say who had intimidated or assaulted his client.
The case continued without Mr Boyce and Mr Smyth told the court how he suffered a broken jaw when he was punched by a man outside the Station House Hotel where he was staying.
You can read his evidence from yesterday’s hearing in our earlier report here:
Mr Kelly and Mr Carty gave evidence in the afternoon.
Each recalled finishing work for the evening, going to the Brewery Bar for dinner and a pint before going to Voodoo where they entered a pub quiz and then went on to the nightclub after winning free tickets for the venue.
The witnesses described how one man at Voodoo had made a remark about how Galway men were able to come to Donegal to work when “we can’t get work.”
As the men were returning to the hotel, a number of men followed them.
Mr Carty said he was punched in the back of the head. As Mr Smyth and Mr Kelly tried to reason with the men, Mr Smyth was punched in the face sustaining the serious injury which later required surgery at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
Garda Sean Duffy played CCTV from the Station House Hotel to the court. In once scene, a man with his back to the camera could be seen chatting to Mr Smyth for around 20 seconds before suddenly punching him.
The force of the punch sent Mr Smyth to the ground and out of view of the cameras.
Several other punches were then thrown at Mr Kelly and Mr Carty in the horrific CCTV footage.
Mr Kieran O’Gorman, solicitor for one of the accused men, remarked that he hadn’t seen any assaults having watched the footage three times.
Judge Paul Kelly remarked: “You should have gone to SpecSavers.”
At the conclusion of the evidence yesterday evening, Judge Kelly asked once again if Mr Boyce was in court.
Inspector Michael Harrison explained he could not continue with the case until Mr Boyce was present as it was Mr Boyce, who appeared in the CCTV footage, who had identified the defendants to Gardai.
Judge Kelly issued a bench warrant for his arrest and adjourned the case until March 4.