A man has told a trial he was chased, tripped, punched and kicked as he lay on the ground by a group of males, which included All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler, Kyle Hayes.
Cillian McCarthy (24) told Limerick Circuit Criminal Court that Mr Hayes (25) and others “punched” and “stamped” on him after he was tripped to the ground outside Icon nightclub in Limerick City on October 28th, 2019.
Mr Hayes, of Ballyashea, Kildimo, Co Limerick, denies one count of assault causing harm to Mr McCarthy and two counts of violent disorder, inside and outside Icon nightclub, on October 28th, 2019.
Co-accused Jai Chaudri (22), of Carheeny, Kildimo, denies one count of assaulting Mr McCarthy causing him harm, as well as one count of violent disorder on the same night, and Craig Cosgrave (24), of Caherally, Grange, Co Limerick, denies one count of violent disorder.
Giving evidence at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, McCarthy alleged Mr Hayes assaulted him inside the nightclub earlier on the night in question after he became angry that Mr McCarthy was chatting to two females at the bar.
Mr McCarthy alleged Mr Hayes approached him and his friend Mr Cosgrave in Smyth’s Bar, and warned them to “stay the f**k away” from the two girls.
Mr McCarthy said Mr Hayes became “aggressive” and shouted at him “Do you know who the f**k I am?”.
The witness, who said he had shared a litre bottle of Captain Morgan’s rum with Mr Cosgrave prior to attending the bar, said he tried explaining to Mr Hayes that the girls were old school friends of his, “but he did not want to hear it”.
“I just walked away, I knew where it was going, I thought it was going to lend towards a fight - I didn't want that,” Mr McCarthy told the court.
He alleged that when he met the two girls again on the nightclub’s dance floor later that night, Mr Hayes became “very aggressive” and “charged” towards him.
“He told me he was getting sick of me. He told me if I wanted ‘to do it’, we’d ‘do it’,” Mr McCarthy said.
Fight
Another man who was with Mr Hayes “threw the first punch, hitting me in my right eye”, Mr McCarthy claimed.
He added that Mr Hayes and the other man began “punching me continuously into the head”.
He said he received more blows to the head when others joined in the brawl.
Mr McCarthy said he was removed from the dance floor by security staff.
“My right eye was pounding, I could feel blood dripping down my face, it was getting hard to see out through it as it was swelling up a lot,” he told the court.
Ater CCTV footage of the dance floor brawl was played to the jury, Mr McCarthy said: “You can clearly see Kyle Hayes jumping in and punching me.”
The witness added that when he eventually left the club, he was pursued by Mr Hayes and others.
He said Mr Hayes caught up with him “and told me I was all alone now, and he’d dig the head off me”.
Mr McCarthy said he told Mr Hayes to “f**k off, that I’d already got a beating”, adding that he “started to panic” when other males joined Mr Hayes across the street from him.
One-to-one
Mr McCarthy said a friend of his then informed him that despite his best efforts to try and calm the situation, there was “no reasoning with Kyle Hayes who said he wanted to fight me, one-to-one”. This claim was refuted by Mr Hayes’ barrister, Brian McInerney SC.
Mr McCarthy further alleged that Mr Hayes and others ran towards Mr Cosgrave as he left the venue.
The court heard Mr Cosgrave had allegedly thrown punches during the dance floor melee earlier in the night while trying to protect Mr McCarthy.
Mr McCarthy said “it all kicked off again” outside the nightclub, and he ran towards the parties “to try and help Craig, who was on his own”.
He said Mr Hayes and others began “throwing punches left, right and centre, trying to attack us”.
Mr McCarthy said the group chased them up the street, and he was knocked to the ground. “That’s when they started stamping on me.”
“They were hitting me as I was running away. I was tripped onto the ground, and I was attacked and stamped on,” he said.
Asked by John O’Sullivan, for the State, who had stamped on him, Mr McCarthy replied: “Kyle Hayes, Jai Chaudri, (and others).”
Mr McCarthy said “about five or six” males, including Mr Hayes and Mr Chaudri were “standing over me, stamping all over me with their feet”.
He said “between punches and kicks” he suffered “roughly about 20 continuous blows” to his head and body.
He told the court he sustained a fracture to a bone under his right eye, for which he required surgery to repair.
Under cross-examination by Mr McInerney, Mr McCarthy denied he was the “aggressor” on the night, and denied his motive was to “do damage” to Mr Hayes.
Mr McCarthy denied that all Mr Hayes said to him was to stop talking to a girl who was in a relationship with one of his friends.
Mr McCarthy reiterated that Mr Hayes became aggressive and abusive to him while he was chatting to girls who were friends of his since their schooldays.
Mr McCarthy also denied suggestions by Mr McInerney that Mr Hayes had only approached him on the street outside the club after he had become embroiled in an incident outside the club with Mr Hayes’ brother, Cian Hayes.
The trial, which is being heard by Judge Dermot Sheehan before a jury of seven men and five women, will resume on Friday.
