A Castleisland man who was jailed for attacking a man with a baseball bat, has failed in an appeal against his conviction.
In July 2018, Sean Lane (29) of An Caislean Mor, Castleisland, was jailed for nine years for assault causing serious harm to Eamon Sheehy at St Stephen's Park, Castleisland, on January 14, 2018.
Mr Lane denied that charge and a further charge of producing the bat during a dispute, for which he received a concurrent three-year sentence.
The sentencing court previously heard that the victim was beaten so badly that his own mother could not recognise him except for his tattoo.
Mr Lane claimed that Mr Sheehy had come after him with a golf club and that he used the baseball bat in self-defence but the court ruled that the attack went "way beyond" self-defence.
The trial heard that paramedics at the scene had been unable to tell whether the injured person lying on the road was male or female, such was the extent of injuries to Mr Sheehy’s face and head.
A second male, Jason Keane Broderick, then 21, of St John's Park, Castleisland, was sentenced to three years with one suspended for possessing the bat involved in the attack.
Senior counsel for Mr Lane, Séamus Clarke, told the appeal court that Mr Lane was appealing on the grounds he should have had a separate trial to that of his co-accused.
Mr Clarke argued that there had been prejudicial material introduced into the case at trial from garda interviews carried out with Mr Broderick, in which comments were made about Mr Lane having a temper and breaking windows.
At the appeal hearing, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the comments would put Mr Lane’s character in a bad light in the minds of the jury.
Roisin Lacey, Senior Counsel for the state, said she did not believe Mr Broderick’s comments were so egregious that they made the trial unfair.
At the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice John Edwards said the court was dismissing Mr Lane’s appeal, and it was satisfied the trial judge in Kerry was correct to not sever the cases.
He said he did not consider the trial to be unfair or that Mr Lane had been done an injustice.
In February 2019, trial Judge Thomas O'Donnell said there had been a "brutal, savage and sustained attack" on Mr Sheehy, who the trial heard would need life-long care.
In a victim impact statement at sentencing, Mr Sheehy's mother told the court she only recognised her son from a tattoo and that his whole body had turned "purple".
