A JUDGE HAS dismissed an assault charge brought against a law professor and senior counsel, saying the accused would not get a fair trial.

Diarmuid Phelan (57), who lectures at Trinity College Dublin, came before Judge William Aylmer at a special sitting of Wexford District Court today to have the charge dismissed on the grounds of a delay in having it brought to hearing.

Phelan, who was present in court, appeared on a charge of allegedly assaulting Kevin McHale at Reedstown, Tacumshane, Co Wexford on 26 August 2021, causing him harm contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

The case had been adjourned on a number of occasions.

Phelan was acquitted of murdering 35-year-old Keith Conlon at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, earlier this year.

Opening the application, defence counsel Justin McQuaid BL said that while the assault took place on 26 August 2021, Phelan was not notified of a complaint until 15 December, when Garda John Coughlan texted him.

Potentially critical video evidence was also not available to exonerate Phelan because he had not been notified of the complaint in time, it was argued.

The court also heard that previous allegations made against Phelan were proven to be false when gardaí looked at dashcam footage from the same day.

Phelan had denied assaulting his neighbour, saying he was acting in self defence.

Under cross-examination from McQuaid, Garda John Coughlan told the court that on 26 August 2021, the wife of the injured party made contact with gardaí. The McHales were neighbours of the accused. Garda Coughlan attended the family home on the same date.

Garda Coughlan said in a statement that McHale made an allegation of assault, alleging that he incurred some minor injuries as a result.

McQuaid told the court that a dash cam on Phelan’s car could have captured what had happened but by the time Phelan was told of the complaint, the footage had been overwritten.

Garda Coughlan told the court that on 29 October 2021, he received a medical report in relation to the matter, stating that the injured party had received abrasions to the face and had complained of tenderness to the left side.

Garda Coughlan said that on 23 November 2021, the accused had shown him a shirt which he wore on the occasion of the alleged assault that was torn and had buttons removed.

Garda Coughlan said the accused was never arrested in relation to the matter, but by agreement had attended Wexford Garda Station on 2 February 2022, where he made a statement denying that he had assaulted McHale, adding that McHale was the aggressor.

McQuaid said at this stage the prosecution were coming up against the six-month statute period relating to whether the accused be charged with Section 2 or Section 3 assault.

Garda Coughlan said on 19 April 2022, gardaí received direction from the Director of Public Prosecutions that the accused be charged with Section 3 assault.

McQuaid told the court that the DPP asked in May 2022 for Wexford District Court to deal with the case prior to a murder case which the accused had before the Central Criminal Court. Garda Coughlan said today: “I do not recall that.”

“By this time,” said McQuaid, “the accused had been charged with murder and a trial date would be a long way off.”

Garda Coughlan said there was a background between Phelan, who owned a farm, and McHale.

McQuaid said that Phelan had denied at all times carrying out an assault. He also said that Phelan had made numerous complaints about trespassing on his farm, adding that gardaí in Wexford were aware of the difficulties between the parties.

Garda Coughlan said he was not aware of Wexford gardaí having any input into Phelan’s application to the High Court for bail in relation to the murder charge.

Garda Coughlan also blamed his workload for the delay in notifying Phelan about the allegation.

Phelan said in evidence that he is an associate professor in Trinity College, as well as a barrister. He said he is in a relationship and has two children.

He told the court that he owned farms, both in Dublin and Wexford, but primarily lived in Dublin.

He said the assault proceedings have been very stressful, and the murder trial was “very traumatic”. The two were interwoven, he said.

The day after Phelan was charged with the murder of Keith Conlon, Garda Coughlan made a statement about the assault causing harm allegation and sent a file to the DPP the following day.

Phelan told the court that the first he heard that he was being charged with assaulting McHale was during his bail hearing in the High Court in Dublin for the murder charge.

He told the judge that he thought the matter was over after meeting and discussing it with Garda Coughlan the previous December.

Judge Aylmer said he was satisfied on the evidence before the court that it would not be possible for Mr Phelan to have a fair trial.

He dismissed the charge of assault against him.