An official from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was convicted of assaulting a farmer in Balla Mart, Co. Mayo, last month, according to the Mayo News.

It is believed the official was convicted after the judge described his evidence as “not credible“.

Achill District Court reportedly heard how 62-year-old Patrick Sweeney, from No. 5 Blackfort Close in Castlebar, was convicted of a Section Two assault on 49-year-old Gerry Carney – resulting in a fine and compensation.

The alleged incident took place at Balla Mart on April 23, 2016, the Mayo News reported.

The court heard that there had been hostility between the two men for over 30 years. Sweeney denied the accusation and called Carney’s description of the event a “cock and bull story”.

However, Judge Mary Devins reportedly described the evidence put forward by prosecution witnesses as “cogent and entirely credible”. She informed the court that Sweeney’s evidence did not seem credible, and she convicted him of the offence.

Altercation

Describing his recollection of events, Carney told the court how he was at the mart – walking past cattle pens – when Sweeney swung a gate open and hit him on his left shoulder.

He informed the court that he swore at Sweeney, saying “Ya thick c*** ya,” but attempted to continue on his way. He said he was then tripped by Sweeney, nearly falling over, the Mayo News added.

Both men are then believed to have exchanged words over an incident where Sweeney was dragged on a “wild goose chase” to Connemara, following a prank call from someone pretending to be interested in buying cattle.

Carney said that after this exchange, the defendant was “frothing at the mouth” and that he was afraid of him. Carney said that Sweeney then came up to him and elbowed him in the jaw.

Carney stated that he reported the fiasco to the mart manager and later to the Gardai. He said that the bad blood between Sweeney and himself stretched back some 32 years.

History of hostile incidents

It is reported that the court also heard of other hostile incidents, such as Gardai being called by Carney who alleged that Sweeney was deliberately blocking access to his lands with his jeep.

On another occasion, Carney is believed to have opened a gate on his land to the main public road after Sweeney’s cattle had broken into his field.

In the defendant’s turn to explain the sequence of events, Sweeney purportedly said that he had seen a man named Willie Faherty ushering a “wild cow“.

He explained that he had opened a gate to get the cow into a pen when his back inadvertently made contact with Carney. This was the only physical contact between them, he said.

Solicitor for the defence, Tom Walsh, said to Carney that on the day of the alleged assault, the mart gate had been opened in order to help pen a wild cow and that Sweeney did not assault Carney – to which the plaintiff responded “that’s crazy”.

Concluding evidence

Willie Faherty told the court he was present at the mart on the day of the incident. He said he saw Sweeney hit Carney with the gate and then continue to shove him.

But Faherty explained that he stood back when Carney’s brother, Oliver, went over to intervene; he also added that he did not see the alleged elbow.

Sweeney told the court that he is a full-time employee of the Department of Agriculture in their Wildlife Services division, as well as a farmer.

Concluding the case for defence, Walsh asserted that Faherty saw no elbow and reiterated that Sweeney was opening the gate for “safety reasons”, according to the Mayo News.

Inspector Gary Walsh noted that there was no evidence from anyone else – including Faherty – of Sweeney’s account of a wild cow, that could justify any incident with the opening of a gate.

The judge, taking into account the defendant’s record of no previous convictions, purportedly fined Sweeney €500 – in addition to paying a compensation order of €750 to the plaintiff.