A father and son who beat up two bouncers at a charity boxing match in a Co Donegal hotel have avoided going to jail after donating €18,000 to their victims.
Sheep farmers Liam and William Ward pleaded guilty to assaulting security personnel Sean Douglas and Marcin Manczykowski at the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town on October 29th, 2022.
The pair pleaded guilty when they appeared at Donegal Circuit Court before Judge John Aylmer.
Footage of the assaults captured on the hotel’s CCTV system was shown in the court.
The accused pair, from Orbeg in Donegal Town, sat in the dock while relatives sat at the rear of the court listening to details of the assault.
The court heard how son Liam Ward, 28, had bought the tickets for the charity boxing match but his father William, aged 59, was not keen on going for family reasons.
Garda Alan Gallagher said the incident started when the father and son began arguing amongst themselves but this led to the two men assaulting both security personnel.
Both suffered a range of injuries including fractures, severe bruising and scraping and suffered headaches long after the initial attacks.
As well as physical injuries, both men suffered severe psychological damage from the vicious assaults.
Mr Manczykowski eventually returned to work but Mr Douglas could not return to work as a bouncer and studied for a different career instead.
Victim impact statements were read out in court on behalf of both victims.
Mr Douglas told how he went to help his colleague Mr Manczykowski after he was set upon and was himself badly beaten and was kicked and punched repeatedly.
He listed a range of injuries he suffered including a fractured nose, bruising to his head and eyes and told how he tried to return to work after six months but had suffered from anxiety and could not work in the security industry.
He lost his confidence as a person and had to receive counselling and has now chosen to do a degree in a health field so he can help others.
Mr Manczykowski also outlined his injuries and how he suffered from bruising and developed a lump on the side of his head.
He said he has since recovered from the physical injuries he received but he still struggles with the psychological impact and that he is more nervous now than he was in his job than he was before.
Both William and Liam Ward were interviewed by Gardai about the assaults but both said they had little recollection of what had happened because they each had so much drink taken.
Barrister for William Ward, Mr Simon Gillespie, BL, said his client had no previous convictions and was not well-known to Gardai. He added that Ward is a sheep farmer and gravedigger who lived in the countryside and that this type of behaviour was completely out of character for him.
He said he had been drinking on the night in question, had very little recollection of the incident but had apologised to the bouncers.
On the night in question, Mr Gillespie said his client was reluctant to go to the event as his brother had been ill and had since passed away.
Mr Gillespie said his client had the sum of €9,000 in court as a gesture of goodwill to his victims.
Mr Ward took to the witness box and apologised to both men saying “I would like to say sorry to people involved that night, it was completely out of character for me.”
Barrister for Mr Liam Ward, Mr Peter Nolan, BL, said his client had also made full admissions, had apologised to both bouncers and accepted that this should never have happened.
Garda Gallagher agreed with Mr Nolan that both father and son were highly regarded in their area, were hard workers but both had consumed large amounts of alcohol including Liam who admitted to drinking eight pints and a number of vodkas.
The court was told Liam one had just one previous conviction and had taken an adult caution for a public order incident some years ago.
Mr Nolan said his client also had the sum of €9,000 in court to offer as a gesture to both men.
Liam Ward also apologised to his victims saying “I’d like to apologise to the two lads involved, that is not my normal behaviour.”
Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said the behaviour of both men at the charity boxing event on the night was “appalling.”
He said security staff at such premises had very difficult jobs but fortunately they don’t have to face such violence too often.
However, he added that it was only a question of luck how serious the injuries of the victims were given the levels of violence involved.
He said both men may have recovered from their physical injuries but the psychological injuries will remain with them and their confidence had been “shattered” as a result.
Judge Aylmer said it is clear that both men were not given to this type of behaviour and this was a complete aberration as they were out of their minds on alcohol and going through a tough family time.
He said a starting point for sentencing would be two years in prison before he took mitigation into consideration.
Both men had no previous convictions and were clearly hard-working men, said the Judge.
Both had cooperated fully and showed remorse and the probation services said both were at a low risk of reoffending.
He said because of these factors he would reduce the sentences to one of 15 months in prison for each accused.
However, he said he accepted the proposition that this case would be better dealt with by way of a non-custodial sentence and sentenced the men to 240 hours of community service in lieu of 15 months in prison and gave the father and son 12 months to complete the community service.
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