Man (46) assaults his housemate with poker
By Brendan Grehan
A MAN (46) who assaulted his housemate with a poker has received four months jail in Blanchardstown District Court.
Karl Davidson, aged 46, with an address at Arthur Griffith Park, Lucan, had been found guilty of assaulting Alan Cosgrave causing him harm at the above address on June 16, 2017.
Davidson was before Judge Murphy for sentencing.
Davidson had asked Mr Cosgrave to keep the music down and then started punching him.
He had claimed Mr Cosgrave was the aggressor, and had struck his face and punched him.
Both Davidson and Cosgrave were covered in blood after the row, and sought medical attention for their injuries.
Mr Cosgrave told the court that he was in the house listening to the radio when Davidson came in, told him to keep it down and threw a plastic bottle at him. He said Davidson punched him, and he picked up a poker to protect himself.
He said Davidson got hold of the poker and they staggered and struggled with it.
Mr Cosgrave said Davidson ended up on top of him on a sofa and smacked him in the face and head with the poker, shouting: “You’re dying tonight, you’re going to die.”
Mr Cosgrave said he managed to pick up a chair and threw it at Davidson before he staggered out of the house and collapsed on the driveway.
Mr Cosgrave said he was taken by ambulance to hospital. He suffered a fractured nasal passage, two broken ribs and cuts around the head and needed a number of stitches.
Davidson claimed he asked Mr Cosgrave to keep the music down as neighbours had been complaining about the noise.
He claimed Mr Cosgrave told him he was “way louder”, struck his face and then started throwing punches at him.
The defendant also said that he suffered injuries in the assault, including bruising to his head.
Finding him guilty, Judge Murphy said Davidson had shown extremely aggressive behaviour.
Judge Murphy noted that Davidson had no previous convictions.
She said she had spent some time considering the matter. She sentenced Davidson to six months jail with the last two months suspended for six months on his own bond of €250.
