A controversial horse racing figure has today (Thursday, October 27) narrowly avoided prison for his assault on a farmer with a horse whip.
At Gort District Court, Judge Mary Larkin said that the assault by 53-year-old, Stephen Mahon on farmer, John Hughes “warrants a jail sentence in the context of you can’t go beating someone over the face with a riding whip”.
Solicitor for Mahon, Martina Moran said that her client has no prior convictions for assault and Judge Larkin said that she would impose a suspended six-month prison term on Mahon.
Judge Larkin told the solicitor “I think your client should do an anger management course and whatever else the Probation Services direct” and suspended the prison term for 24 months.
Assault on farmer
Martina Moran told Judge Larkin that there has been no contact between Stephen Mahon and the farmer since the incident in October 2020.
The court was told previously that there was “bad blood’ between Mahon and John Hughes arising from a 2014 incident involving the two.
Judge Larkin also convicted and fined Mahon €200 for producing a horse whip in the course of a dispute, which was capable of inflicting serious injury and likely to intimidate another, on October 13, 2020 at the same location at Newtown, Kilcolgan, Co. Galway.
The solicitor said that Stephen Mahon is a father of two children, aged seven and 11, is not working and planning to move overseas for work.
She added that there was an issue between Mahon and the other party in 2014.
In response, Judge Larkin told the solicitor that Mahon and Hughes have opposing views of what happened in 2014 “and I can’t put that into the mix”.
In June of last year, Stephen Mahon formerly of The Ranch, Kilcolgan, Co. Galway but now living in Co. Meath was given the longest ban, at four years, ever handed out to a trainer in Ireland for breach of animal welfare rules.
The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) ban imposed was reduced by six months on appeal in September of last year.
In evidence at the contested assault hearing last month at Gort District Court, John Hughes told the court that on October 13, 2020, on his way back from herding cattle, Mahon passed him on a horse on a boreen.
Hughes said: “Mr. Mahon went on six or seven yards and said what the f**k are you laughing at. He got down off his horse and asked what are you smiling at.
“He then let fly and hit me with the whip on the left hand side of the face just under my eye.”
Hughes stated that Mahon “then swung a second time. I put my hand up to protect myself and he got me on the knuckle and the left hand side of the face”.
“I then rushed him. My eye was weeping like hell at this stage. I pushed him against the gate and in doing so knocked a couple of stones off a pillar,” he stated.
Hughes said that “there was a bit of a struggle” and Mahon got free and kicked out at him twice. The farmer said that he has been left with a scar from a whip blow and pointed out the scar on his face to Judge Larkin.
Defence
Stephen Mahon denied that he assaulted John Hughes and in evidence alleged that Hughes threw two rocks at him at the location.
In finding Mahon guilty of the two offences, Judge Larkin said that it is not a case of one man’s word against another.
Judge Larkin said: “There is also the evidence of the injuries to Mr. Hughes. They were viewed by Garda Phil O’Donoghue on the day and they are consistent with Mr. Hughes’s evidence.
“I am satisfied that the incident did take place as described by Mr. Hughes. I found him to be a credible witness and I found [Stephen] Mahon to be vague and possibly inventive in relation to what he said about the incident.”
Mahon has 14 previous convictions but none relate to assault or public order. Six relate to the Control of Dogs Act with the remainder relating to road traffic matters.