Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae, his brother Kevin and their friend Malachy Scannell have agreed to pay close to €80,000 compensation to the man assaulted in an unprovoked attack almost nine years ago.
The personal injuries claim taken by English golfer Kieran James was settled last week for close to €80,000 and includes compensation, medical expenses and legal fees.
The settlement arose out of an unprovoked assault on Mr James in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, in December 2017 which led to the two sons of TD Michael Healy-Rae and their friend Malachy Scannell being convicted of serious assault offences, local paper Kerry’s Eye reported.
Solicitors on both sides made the compensation settlement agreement last week – within days of TD Michael Healy-Rae suffering injuries as a result of an unprovoked assault in Dublin last Wednesday.
Solicitor for Mr James, John Cashell of J Cashell Solicitors, refused to comment on the settlement when contacted by Kerry’s Eye.
Solicitor representing the defendants, Eimear Griffin of Padraig J O’Connell Solicitors, also refused to comment.
Personal injury legal experts have estimated that legal costs in such an assault case, where medical expenses are involved, could reach €30,000.
The Healy-Rae brothers, sons of Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, and Malachy Scannell, were sued by Kieran James, who sought damages following a violent attack in Kenmare on December 28, 2017.
In the Circuit Court summons, seen by Kerry’s Eye, Mr James sought damages for personal and psychological injuries, as well as expenses he had to meet arising from the attack.
Mr James claims that his nose is now ‘permanently deformed’ as a result of the assault.
The personal injuries summons was first issued on behalf of Mr James on February 9, 2023, and served on the three defendants the following day.
The summons claimed that Mr James was ‘intentionally and with hostility and force, repeatedly assaulted and beaten by the defendants who pushed and struck him and went to choke him around the neck’.
Mr James also claimed ‘assault and battery and severe personal and psychological injuries, loss, damage and expense suffered, sustained and incurred by the plaintiff, was caused as a result of the unlawful actions and deliberate and intentional trespass to the person of Mr James’.
Mr James’s barrister, Elizabeth Murphy, claimed in the summons that her client received heavy facial blows on the night.
In addition to bruising and contusion, Mr James claims to have suffered a fractured nose which required three hospital procedures but which is now permanently deformed. He also claims to suffer from continuing problems with his shoulder.
Mr James had booked his wedding in Kenmare prior to the assault, but was so traumatised by the event that he considered cancelling it because he no longer felt safe in the town.
The English golfer claimed compensation, the legal costs of his action, as well as special damages to include medical fees, travel expenses and loss of earnings.
In August, Kerry’s Eye reported that talks between legal representatives on both sides led to an all-in settlement offer of €30,000, to include legal and all other costs, being made by the defendants to Mr James.
However, the offer was flatly refused on the basis that Mr James’s legal and medical costs alone will come to over €20,000.
The personal injuries case followed criminal proceedings which resulted in the three men being convicted of serious assault offences.
Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae unsuccessfully appealed his District Court convictions to the Circuit Court in October 2022.
Judge Francis Comerford convicted him of a Section 2 assault (Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1977) on Mr James in Kenmare and sentenced him to three months in prison, suspended for six months.
He also convicted him of the more serious Section 3 assault causing harm to Mr James at Main Street and sentenced him to five months, suspended for six months.
Judge Comerford described the assault on Kieran James as unprovoked and violent, and said that in order to protect others present that night, ‘Jackie HealyRae was prepared to lie to gardaí so others wouldn’t face charges of which they were guilty’.
The judge said: ‘He was willing to lie for others – it’s not a far step for him to deny he had any involvement.’
Shortly after he was convicted, Jackie Healy-Rae resigned from the Joint Policing Committee, stating that he was stepping down ‘to avoid the good work of the committee being overshadowed by the membership’.
Jackie Healy-Rae’s younger brother, Kevin, and their friend Malachy Scannell from Kilgarvan, withdrew their appeals and their District Court sentences were affirmed.
In the District Court, Kevin Healy-Rae was convicted of assault causing harm and received a suspended seven-month jail sentence for his part in the attack on Mr James.
Malachy Scannell received a suspended six-month jail sentence for assaulting Mr James and a similar sentence for assaulting Neily O’Sullivan, causing both men harm, during the same incident.
All sentences were suspended for a period of one year.
