A Co Clare man who told an 11-year old girl “to f*ck off” before assaulting her father in a ‘road-rage’ incident outside the village of Clarecastle last year has been ordered to pay €2,000 compensation.
At Ennis District Court, Judge Adrian Harris has ordered Francis Healy (58) of Turnpike Rd, Ennis to pay the €2,000 compensation to Eamon O’Callaghan after finding him guilty of the assault causing harm of Mr O’Callaghan at around 3.30pm on February 6th 2025 at Kildysart Road near the village of Clarecastle, Co Clare contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the State Act.
In evidence, Mr O’Callaghan said during the heated roadside confrontation Mr Healy “called me a fat c*nt and I called him a scruffy fool and so on and so forth”.
Mr O’Callaghan’s 11-year old daughter was a passenger in his Renault Megane and got out of the car at the scene and Mr O’Callaghan told the court that Mr Healy pointed to her and told her ‘to shut her f**kin mouth”.
Mr O’Callaghan told the court that he was defending himself and his daughter “against this lunatic”.
In sentencing, Judge Harris opted not to convict Mr Healy but instead applied the Probation Act for two years and for Mr Healy to have no contact with Mr O’Callaghan.
On behalf of Mr Healy, solicitor Daragh Hassett said that this was a ‘road rage’ case where Mr Healy “felt under attack and he acted to protect himself and the court felt that he passed the watershed mark in relation to that and he accepts that”.
Mr Hassett said that Mr Healy “didn’t start it and didn’t look for this altercation”.
Mr Hassett said: “I don’t think Mr Healy was completely wrong in this incident and unfortunately when he was tackled he went over and beyond and in that split second it is not always easy to keep one’s composure.”
The solicitor said that Mr Healy with “the benefit of hindsight accepts that he should have kept going on his own way and there was nothing to be gained by engaging with this individual”.
Mr Hassett said that Mr Healy “can be a bit hot, which is borne out in this case”.
Mr Hassett said that Mr Healy is from a very well known and highly regarded Co Clare family.
He said that the county soccer grounds on the outskirts of Ennis are named after Mr Healy’s late father as the Healy family has been synonymous with Clare soccer over the years.
Mr Hassett said that Mr Healy “is a quiet man who keeps to himself and hasn’t come to Garda notice since”.
In the case, Mr Healy admitted to following Mr O’Callaghan’s Mitsubishi jeep down the Kildysart Rd after Mr Healy felt that Mr O’Callaghan had boxed him in while going around the ‘Maxol’ or Clareabbey roundabout between Ennis and Clarecastle.
Passing motorists took videos of the assault by Mr Healy on Mr O’Callaghan and the short videos were played to the court in June where Mr Healy was contesting the assault charge.
Garda Brendan O’Reilly said that the footage shown to court shows Mr Healy giving Mr O’Callaghan three or four punches in quick succession while Mr O’Callaghan is on the ground.
Mr O’Callaghan told the court “as I hit the ground my daughter was screaming for him to stop and he did not stop. I thought he was going to kill me to be honest”.
Mr O’Callaghan said that arising from Mr Healy’s assault he sustained a laceration over one eye, scrape marks on his neck, a black eye and there was a mark over his other eye.
In his Garda interview, Mr Healy said that he followed Mr O’Callaghan’s jeep out of the roundabout “because he nearly caused a crash”.
He said after “we shouted at each other through windows – he then pulled forward and he hopped out and I hopped out”
Mr Healy said: “I asked “what the hell were you doing at the roundabout?” and he said “f*ck off. I travel this road every day and I was in the right lane”.
Mr Healy said that Mr O’Callaghan’s daughter was saying ‘Daddy, don’t, Daddy don’t’ “and I told her to get the fuck out of there, I thought she was going to get hurt.”
He said: “After I told her to fuck off he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck with both hands and pushed me back onto my car which was a good eight of nine feet away and pinned me to the bonnet.”
“He latched on to my left thumb. I was worried he would bite my face and I made up my mind that he wouldn’t so I put him down.”
Mr Healy said that he was not the aggressor. In evidence in court, Mr Healy said that he told the 11 year old girl “to feck off or f*ck off’.
