{"id":485655,"date":"2026-06-06T04:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485655\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T04:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:59:19","slug":"landscaper-attacked-relative-with-tree-branch-in-family-row-over-reaction-court-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485655\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscaper attacked relative with tree branch in family row &#8216;over-reaction&#8217;, court hears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A landscaper who repeatedly beat a female relative over the head with a tree branch during a family row in Dublin has been handed a three-month sentence.<\/p>\n<p>However, Michael McDonough (27) of Emmet Crescent, Inchicore, who was already serving a prison sentence for an earlier offence, was spared additional time in custody.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed he &#8220;over-reacted&#8221; as he admitted producing a weapon on May 10th 2025, which left the woman hospitalised.<\/p>\n<p>A charge of assault causing harm was withdrawn by the State, which accepted the guilty plea to the weapons offence, but evidence was given on a full facts basis.<\/p>\n<p>Garda Daniel Coyne told Dublin District Court that he received a report from a neighbour that the accused had struck a woman with a large wooden object.<\/p>\n<p>People tried to intervene, but McDonough managed to hit the woman several times before she was taken to St James&#8217;s Hospital to receive stitches.<\/p>\n<p>CCTV footage of the incident was obtained but was not played during the hearing. However, Judge \u00c1ine Clancy was shown still images from the video evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Questioned by defence barrister Sam Friel, the garda said the weapon looked like a long tool handle, but on examination, he clarified that it was a tree branch.<\/p>\n<p>Garda Coyne agreed that McDonough was forthright during the interview a month later.<\/p>\n<p>He had 19 prior convictions, including two assaults, but none for weapons offences, and is due for release from prison later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Pleading for leniency, Friel asked the court to note that the guilty plea spared the witnesses the need to give evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Clancy noted that the injured woman was related to the accused and was not in court.<\/p>\n<p>Counsel said other people had got into a violent altercation with McDonough&#8217;s mother, who had Alzheimer&#8217;s disease.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/family-of-drunk-passenger-thrown-off-bus-but-later-killed-by-passing-vehicle-settle-action-1909634.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/family-of-drunk-passenger-thrown-off-bus-but-later-killed-by-passing-vehicle-settle-action-1909634.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fourcourtsfilephoto-e1638467191369.jpeg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"Family Of Drunk Passenger Thrown Off Bus But Later Killed By Passing Vehicle Settle Action\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Ireland<\/p>\n<p>Family of drunk passenger thrown off bus but later killed by passing vehicle settle action<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Friel said his client overreacted and was remorseful.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard he had suffered several bereavements, which led him to abuse drugs as a &#8220;coping mechanism&#8221;, but he has &#8220;cleaned up his act&#8221; in custody, and was now drug-free.<\/p>\n<p>He had also recently become a father and was supported in court by his partner, who was a good influence on him.<\/p>\n<p>The barrister pleaded with the judge not to prolong McDonough&#8217;s time in jail, as his sentence was due to expire in September. The judge imposed the three-month sentence to run from Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A landscaper who repeatedly beat a female relative over the head with a tree branch during a family&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-485655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485655","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=485655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}