High Court grants bail to man charged with punching Kerry TD Healy-Rae in Dublin
Anthony Foley, 51, was granted High Court bail after allegedly punching Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae through his car window on Cork Street.
Dublin dog walker granted bail after alleged assault on Kerry TD in traffic
A man accused of launching a "totally unprovoked" attack on Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae as the politician sat in traffic in Dublin has been granted bail by the High Court, irishexaminer.com reports.
Anthony Foley (51), of Rosary Road, Maryland, Dublin, faces a charge of assault causing harm to the Kerry TD on 16 September at Cork Street. He had been refused bail two days after the incident by the District Court.
Foley appealed that refusal before Ms Justice Cathleen Noctor at the High Court on Wednesday. She reserved judgment overnight before granting bail on Thursday, subject to stringent conditions.
Ms Justice Noctor emphasised that Foley was entitled to the presumption of innocence and to bail. She found no evidential basis for Garda concerns that he would fail to appear in court or interfere with witnesses via social media or at the TD's workplace.
She acknowledged the seriousness of the broad-daylight attack and accepted that a conviction would likely result in a custodial sentence. However, she rejected Garda apprehensions that releasing Foley on bail would lead to another serious offence targeting a politician. Ms Justice Noctor said she was "not convinced it was clearly politically motivated", describing the alleged incident instead as an attack on a person who happened to be an elected representative.
What the CCTV captured
Garda Sergeant Dave Griffin, objecting to bail on behalf of the State, told the court that Foley approached Healy-Rae's car outside the Coombe Hospital shortly after 4pm while walking a dog. The accused allegedly shouted obscenities before punching the TD through his open car window.
CCTV footage with audio recorded the incident. The attacker is heard saying: "Ah bucko, you're in the wrong area, get out of here you fucking snake" before delivering the punch. Foley vehemently denies being the person visible in the footage.
Healy-Rae was treated at the scene by an ambulance crew before being taken to hospital with a laceration to his lip. Sergeant Griffin confirmed the TD also sustained damage to his front teeth, with the full extent still to be determined pending an orthodontist's assessment. Photographs of the injuries were submitted to court alongside still images from the CCTV footage.
The sergeant described the stills as showing Foley walking to the driver's side of the car and delivering the punch, with Healy-Rae subsequently "getting out of his vehicle with blood on his face."
Arrest and denials
Foley was arrested the day after the alleged attack. At the time of his arrest he was walking the same dog and wearing identical clothing to those visible in the 16 September footage. He was recognised by investigating officer Garda Paul Nolan of Kevin Street Station.
Questioned by Keith Branagan BL for the State, Sergeant Griffin confirmed that Foley made denials during two separate interviews at the local Garda station. When Branagan put it to him that the CCTV footage contradicted those denials, the sergeant replied "very much so."
The State noted that one of the photographs submitted to court showed the accused's face, and that another clearly identified Healy-Rae's car — his name being written on the side of the vehicle.
The bail objections were grounded in Section 2 of the Bail Act and the Supreme Court's O'Callaghan Rules. Foley is due to appear before the District Court later this month, when directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions are to be outlined. Michael Healy-Rae was not required to attend the bail hearing.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)