A teenager charged with the section 3 assault of a Longford father, who remains in critical condition in Beaumont Hospital, has been released on bail following a sitting of Mullingar District Court. The 17-year-old male appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens this afternoon, where a contested bail hearing was held. Detective Garda Brendan Hogan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution and indicated that there is a "very strong possibility of further serious charges" against the accused. The alleged assault took place on December 14th, at approximately 1am on Grove Street, Mullingar. The injured party, a man in his 30s, was discovered with serious injuries at 1.10am and removed by ambulance to Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar. At 6am that same morning, he was transported to Beaumont Hospital where he remains in intensive care, with a severe bleed to his brain and a possible skull fracture. The court heard from Detective Garda Hogan that the injured party was out socialising with colleagues on the night in question when he came upon a group of local youths and an altercation ensued.
The accused presented himself at Mullingar Garda Station and made a voluntary caution statement on the afternoon of December 14. He and another 17-year-old male were arrested yesterday and questioned in relation to the incident. The other male, who has since been released without charge, identified the accused on CCTV footage and gave Gardaí an account of what had happened, stating that the accused had punched the man. A large number of phones were seized during the course of the investigation and messages recovered, including two voice notes sent via Snapchat, which were played in court by Garda Gavin Conway. "I'm after clocking a fella and he wouldn't wake up for half an hour," said the accused in one message sent on snapchat at 1:48am in the aftermath of the incident. In the second message, sent to another person on Snapchat at 11.20am on December 14, he stated "I'm not sure if I killed the fella or not, but even if I didn't kill him, it's bad bro." After making his voluntary statement at the Garda station, the court heard the accused immediately sent a message into a Snapchat group stating "make sure that whatever you do or say, all I said was I've no idea who knocked who out. Too much drink". The voice messages and group texts are the main basis for Garda concerns that the accused would interfere with witnesses. Representing the accused, Andrea Callan BL stated that she "can't get away from the evidence of the snapchat group messages", but pointed out that there were "no instructions given" and that the messages were "more of an update".
Prosecuting Sergeant Orla Keenan said that this is "a very serious investigation" and there are "no bail conditions that would satisfy the state". Judge Owens, after considering the evidence before the court, said she was satisfied the state had met the threshold for O'Callaghan rules on the basis of the snapchat messages sent after he left the Garda Station. However, she said she was "obliged to consider whether conditions would be sufficient". "For a juvenile, detention is the last resort," she said, adding that she was admitting the accused to bail with a number of conditions. Bail conditions imposed included a €500 independent surety from the teen's mother, and that he surrender his passport and not apply for a duplicate. He is also to abide by a curfew from 7pm to 6am, remain intoxicant-free and sign on at Mullingar Garda Station every Wednesday and Saturday. Furthermore, he is not to interfere with witnesses and has been instructed to stay off all social media platforms and all electronics, save for computer use when attending his course. The accused was remanded on bail to February 6, 2025, when he will reappear before Mullingar District Court.
