A pensioner has been jailed for six months after he battered his next-door neighbour in an ongoing feud which started over a woman.
Patrick Gill, 70, admitted to brutally attacking Sean Morrison at
his home in Buncrana, Co Donegal.
When Gardai called to the home of Mr. Morrison at St Vincent’s Villas
in Buncrana on February 17th, 2016, they found him covered in blood.
He had lacerations to his ear, his forehead and to the top of his head.
He claimed that when he was returning from doing some shopping at
around 4 pm, he was attacked by Gill who was carrying a black kitchen
knife.
However, Letterkenny Circuit Court court was told the knife was not
used in the attack.
Garda Conor McClafferty said that when interviewed just minutes after
the incident, Gill was also suffering from a bloody nose and two black
eyes.
Judge John Aylmer was told that this was the second time that Gill,
also of St Vincent’s Villas, had attacked Mr. Morrison.
On the last occasion in August, 2007, Gill assaulted Morrison and the
court replaced a sentence of six months in prison with 100 hours
community service.
Another charge of producing an article (a hatchet) during the assault
was taken into account.
The court was told the men had fallen out more than 10 years ago when
they first met and it centred around a relationship which one of them
was in.
Barrister for Gill, Sean Mac Aoidh, said his client was a separated
father of three who had an addiction to alcohol but stressed there had
been no further altercations between the men since this incident.
The accused told the court that he was sorry for what he had done.
He said “I want to tell Mr. Morrison that I’m sorry and it won’t
happen again. We just pass on the road and there’s no difficulty now.”
However, Judge John Aylmer said that Gill had already been given a
chance by the courts.
On Tuesday last, Judge Aylmer said he did not want to “shoot from the hip” in the case and remanded Gill in custody until today.
Barrister Sean Mac Aoidh said the days spent in prison had been an “overpowering experience” that had been very telling on his client.
However, Judge Aylmer said the Probation Report on Gill had shown he had shown very little remorse to the victim and that there was a moderate risk of him reoffending.
He said he was taking into account the defendant’s age, his health and his alcoholism and sentenced him to 18 months in prison but suspended the last 12 months.