Suspended jail for Tipperary man who armed himself with 'small, hand-held billhook'

A Templemore man who got involved in a family row armed himself with what Nenagh Circuit Court heard was a “small hand-held billhook”.

The court heard that James McInerney, 33, of Carden’s Court, Templemore, was in a car with his wife on the Roscrea road on January 5, 2020. They observed another individual, whom Mr McInerney wanted to confront over a previous incident.

He got out of the car and an argument broke out between the parties.

Mr McInerney went back to the car and retrieved an implement described in court as “small hand-held billhook”. It had a metal hook of about 10-12 inches in length.

The other man went into his house.

The incident was captured on CCTV and the footage was shown to the court.

Mr McInerney was subsequently arrested and made admissions, though he maintained that the implement was a “small metal bar”.
He said there had been a “heated argument” with the other individual and he had “tried to put a stop to it”.

Bill O’Brien, BL, for Mr McInerney, told the court that there had been a separate incident involving six other men in Templemore the previous month, which he described as a “mass brawl”.

Mr McInerney had not been present during this incident but he was added to the book of evidence as the matter involved members of his family fighting against the Donoghues.

He was married to a member of the Donoghue family.

The confrontation that he instigated on January 5 was a connected matter.

Mr O’Brien said the implement, a “small welded bar”, produced by the defendant had been located in the side-pocket of the car.

Garda Declan Kinsella said the gardaí were able to zoom in on the CCTV footage and could clearly see that there was a hook on the bar.'
Mr O'Brien said the dispute had since been “sorted out”.

Mr McInerney had not come to garda attention for any reason since and he was preparing to move away from Templemore, he said.

Mr O’Brien pointed out that the incident before the court did not happen in a crowded place and could be viewed as being at the lower end of the scale of gravity.

However, Judge Catherine Staines considered the offence to be at the higher end of the scale.

She said the defendant appeared “quite aggressive” in the CCTV and it was a serious offence for someone to carry a weapon on a public street.

Mr McInerney should not have had such an implement in the car as there was always the possibility that it would be used and someone would be injured, she said.

The judge noted that the defendant had two previous convictions for similar offences among his total of 47 convictions, the most recent of which was for littering.

She also observed that one of Mr McInerney's six children had cerebral palsy while another had recently been involved in a serious road traffic accident.

Judge Staines told the defendant that he, as a father, should be avoiding family feuds.

She imposed a two-month prison sentence, suspended for one year on the defendant’s own bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.