A MAN bit off part of another man’s thumb in a row which brewed up during a beer festival, a court heard.
Damien Conway (47), of Kilteragh, Dooradoyle, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Dean Burke, contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Initially Mr Conway, a father of four, was facing a more serious charge of assault causing serious harm to Mr Burke, but the State accepted his plea to the lesser charge.
The assault occurred during the annual Oktoberfest German beer and cultural festival held at the Treehouse bar and restaurant at the Woodlands House Hotel in Adare, Co Limerick, on October 23, 2022.
The court heard that Mr Burke accepted he may have accidentally consumed the tail-end of a drink belonging to a woman who was in a larger party that included Conway.
The woman complained to Mr Burke and his friends, who decided to leave as the atmosphere was becoming more heated, the court heard.
As Mr Burke and his friends were driving away from the venue, the court heard, Conway approached their vehicle and grabbed Mr Burke’s arm though an open window.
Prosecution barrister Lily Buckley BL, instructed by State Solicitor for County Limerick, Brendan Gill, said Conway threw several punches at Mr Burke before he held onto the car and the victim’s arm as it drove around the hotel.
Ms Buckley, assisted by Detective Sergeant Michael Reidy, said Conway eventually fell away from the vehicle and Mr Burke felt a sharp pain in his hand.
Ms Buckley said Burke told Gardaà that when he looked down at his thumb it had been “severed”.
“Ultimately it became clear that there had been a bite and he lost part of his thumb,” said Ms Buckley.
GardaĂ found the severed thumb but it could not be reattached, the court heard.
Sergeant Reidy said the “crux” of the matter happened inside the Treehouse bar during the Oktoberfest event.
Sergeant Reidy agreed with Ms Buckley, who suggested that “celebrating German culture included celebrating German beer”.
“There was steiners of beer, so maybe that’s not what Irish people are used to on a night out, and that may have contributed to matters to some extent,” added Ms Buckley.
Ms Buckley said one of Mr Burke’s friends who was driving their car told Gardaà “there was blood everywhere” in the car and that Mr Burke’s thumb “was gone”.
The driver said he saw a “U-shaped impression on the thumb as if someone had bitten it, and he described it as an impression teeth would leave if you had bitten into a cake”, said Ms Buckley.
Mr Burke initially attended at University Hospital Limerick where he received pain relief and anti-inflammatory medicines and underwent plastic surgery at Cork University Hospital on his thumb.
Despite losing the top half of the thumb, Mr Burke returned to playing hurling after he had to take a one year hiatus from the sport.
Mr Burke continues to suffer with pain in the thumb, he had to wear splints, suffered nerve damage, and he experienced sleepless nights due to pain.
Conway initially told Gardaà he did not bite Mr Burke’s finger, but later acknowledged he was responsible.
Sergeant Reidy agreed under cross examination by Conway’s barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Sarah Ryan, that Conway had no prior convictions, is a hard-working married father, and had taken out a loan to facilitate a payment of €10,000 compensation to Mr Burke.
In summing up, Mr Nicholas told the court that Conway still “denies the punching” but that “he accepts the event, the loosing of the thumb, is down to him”.
The judge remanded Conway on continuing bail to appear in court for sentence on June 3.
– Court Reporting Scheme