Man attacked bar-owner with umbrella during argument

November 12, 2020

A MAN struck the proprietor of a wine bar with an umbrella after becoming embroiled in an argument.

James McDaid said he was working at McDaid’s Wine Bar, The Mall, Ramelton, on August 5, 2019.

Andrew Norry and his partner were present and making a lot of noise, McDaid said.

Norry, he told Gardai, was intoxicated and agitated. He asked the pair to be quiet and, when he told them a second time, he claimed Norry approach the bar and hit him on the temple with the handle of the umbrella, saying: ‘Nobody tells me to shut the f*** up’.

Norry (49) of Bridgend, Ramelton, was before Letterkenny District Court charged with assault causing harm to Mr McDaid.

A number of independent witnesses made statements on the incident.

One witness outlined that he noticed that Norry was ‘intoxicated’ and exchanged in verbals with the proprietor. The witness recalled James McDaid telling Norry to ‘shut the f*** up’. Norry, the witness said, was ‘all hyped up, and said ‘I’m going to hit you’, to which McDaid replied: ‘Give it your best shot’.

The witness said that ‘out of nowhere’ he heard a slap landing on a fridge behind him.

Sergeant Gerard Dalton said that Norry was interviewed by Gardaí and recalled having ‘a good bit to drink’. Norry told Gardaí that he was ‘making light’ of being asked to desist from hie behaviour. He claimed that James McDaid had grabbed the umbrella and would’t let him have it.

Solicitor for Norry, Mr Frank Dorrian said: “An oversupply of wine resulted in an undersupply of good sense and good reason, giving rise to an unnecessary exchange with the proprietor.”

Norry, who has no previous convictions, had told Gardaí: “I have been living in this country for 23 years and have never been accused of anything. I find it upsetting.”

Mr Dorrian said his client was 49 years of age and, originally from Scotland, had been here for 23 years.

“He has not drank since the incident,” Mr Dorrian said. “He is frightened by the fact that he cannot remember and was in a position where he was involved in an assault that he has no knowledge of.

“It scared him and he has had a rethink about alcohol. It was not a big ask as he wasn’t a habitual drinker. It has shook him. He was never violent and he is disgusted. He was appropriately apologetic.”

Judge Paul Kelly adjourned the case to January 11, to allow for a probation report and he asked that a victim impact statement be submitted.


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