[article] On Guard!

mike65

Fencing barrister went 'over the top'

A SENIOR lawyer had gone "over the top" when he waved a sword in the face of a motorist he believed intended setting him up for a bogus insurance claim, a judge said yesterday.

Judge Elizabeth Dunne said James Gilhooly, a senior counsel in the Four Courts, had assaulted Shane Byrne and held him prisoner at sword point.

Byrne, of Fancourt Heights, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, had sued Gilhooly, of Cave's Strand, Sea Road, Malahide, for assault and wrongful imprisonment.

He told his counsel, Mr Conor Bowman, that during a dispute over a traffic incident Gilhooly had taken a fencing sabre from his car and threatened he would "slice my f

---

g face off."

Garda Cliona Ryan told the court she was called to a traffic incident on August 26, 1999. The first thing she had seen was Gilhooly waving a sword in front of Byrne's face. Gilhooley said he had been returning to his parked car when Byrne approached him saying: "You must have hit my car."

"It seemed to me like an insurance set-up," said Gilhooley and he reported the incident to the gardai.

As he returned from the station Byrne "snarled at me and said 'you point that finger at me one more time and I'll f

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g break it,'" Gilhooly told the court.

He said he considered he was in danger and felt he had to take some action in his own defence.

"I took out my fencing sabre and swished it towards him to keep him at a distance." He said Byrne had been taunting him saying: "Com on, hit me, go on, I dare you." Awarding Byrne €4,000 damages, Judge Dunne said there had been a considerable conflict of evidence but based on the evidence of Garda Ryan she accepted Byrne's version of the sword having been waved in his face.

Mike.

Our man in Havana

LOL!

Tommy Vercetti

haha, I actually know that Garda, I would have thought she'd run a mile if she saw a sword bless her