{"id":463649,"date":"2026-05-23T16:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463649\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T16:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:36:10","slug":"car-window-was-smashed-in-west-cork-row-over-landscaping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/463649\/","title":{"rendered":"Car window was smashed in West Cork row over landscaping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">A Cork pensioner who pleaded guilty to smashing the rear window of another man\u2019s car in a dispute over flowers planted in a ditch can\u2019t afford to pay the amount of compensation the court instructed him to, according to his solicitor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Paddy Deasy, aged 76, of Ard na Greine, Courtmacsherry, had previously pleaded guilty to criminal damage at a sitting of Bandon District Court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Deasy had admitted smashing the rear window with a spade of a car belonging to 77-year-old Cornelius Whelton, of Station View, Courtmacsherry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The altercation began when Mr Whelton returned home and found a wall and landscaping work carried out on a strip of land near Wood Rd he claimed belonged to him. Paddy Deasy said he had permission from the landowner to tidy the area as part of a community effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">After Mr Whelton began removing stones and flowers from the site, Mr Deasy confronted him, leading to a heated argument that escalated into a physical confrontation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mr Whelton claimed Paddy Deasy struck him with a shovel and damaged his car, while Mr Deasy said Mr Whelton attacked him first after he challenged him over the work being carried out on the disputed site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mr Deasy admitted smashing the car window in anger but denied the assault and affray charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu caption\">No witnesses or forensic evidence<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Judge Joanne Carroll dismissed the assault and affray charges against both men, saying there were no witnesses or forensic evidence to prove either version of events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">However, Mr Deasy was convicted of criminal damage and ordered to compensate Mr Whelton for the estimated \u20ac1,800 damage caused to the car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">At a hearing in Bandon District Court to finalise the matter, Mr Deasy\u2019s solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said the actual cost of the window was \u20ac227 and his client could compensate Mr Whelton with \u20ac400.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mr Taaffe said Mr Whelton\u2019s car had been subsequently scrapped anyway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The court was told Mr Deasy \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the wherewithal\u201d to come up with another \u20ac600 in compensation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The court heard Mr Deasy had seven previous convictions, all for road traffic matters. Judge Carroll said Mr Deasy \u201cbecame enraged\u201d when Mr Whelton removed the flowers which he claimed were planted in a public place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">She said alcohol had been consumed and Mr Deasy bashed in the window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The court agreed to accept the \u20ac400 as the final amount of compensation, and Mr Deasy was also sentenced to three months in prison suspended for 18 months.<\/p>\n<p>                This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cork pensioner who pleaded guilty to smashing the rear window of another man\u2019s car in a dispute&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,54,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-463649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-courts","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}