{"id":490664,"date":"2026-06-09T13:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490664\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:22:10","slug":"jailed-donegal-man-on-assault-charges-cut-off-after-court-interruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490664\/","title":{"rendered":"Jailed Donegal man on assault charges cut off after court interruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Donegal man jailed last month for a savage assault on a teenage woman launched a series of interruptions from prison as he appeared before the court on separate assault charges.<\/p>\n<p>Seamus Cooley rejected legal representation, spoke over Judge \u00c9ite\u00e1in Daly and alleged corruption during two separate appearances via video link at Letterkenny District Court.<\/p>\n<p>The accused appeared by video link from Castlerea Prison, where he is in custody serving a four-year sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The 51-year-old quantity surveyor is charged with assaulting Garda Rory McGowan at an address in Lifford on May 27, 2023. The offence is contrary to section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.<\/p>\n<p>Cooley is also charged with assaulting a man at the Angling Centre, Cahir O\u2019Doherty Avenue, Buncrana on April 20, 2024 and with an assault at Murlog, Lifford on May 27, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Cooley faces a further charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour on at the Angling Centre, Cahir O\u2019Doherty Avenue, Buncrana on April 20, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>As Cooley\u2019s case was called, barrister Senan Crawford, BL, took to his feet but Cooley shouted: \u201cYou\u2019re not representing me. Sit down and close your mouth.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The barrister attempted to explain his position in the case to Judge Daly, but again Cooley interjected, telling the barrister: \u201cYou\u2019re not representing me. I\u2019ll send a complaint to the Law Society. I will address the judge myself. I don\u2019t need you to address the judge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/courts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Judge Daly<\/a> advised Cooley that she needed to know where the case was at.<\/p>\n<p>Cooley was warned that he would be cut off if he didn\u2019t desist.<\/p>\n<p>Barrister Crawford, instructed by solicitor Conor Moylan, told the court that these matters were adjourned pending the conclusion of a Circuit Court case involving Cooley.<\/p>\n<p>Since being sentenced in the Circuit Court, a solicitor has withdrawn his representation of Cooley.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr Cooley has indicated his personal preference,\u201d the barrister told Judge Daly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The case was before the court for Cooley to indicate whether he wished to plead guilty or seek a hearing date to contest the charges.<\/p>\n<p>The barrister advised Judge Daly that he was also applying to come off record as Cooley \u201chas made his preference clear\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The court was told that all disclosure is with the lawyers who acted for Cooley and these will now be forwarded directly to the accused.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/fascinating-1926-census-exhibition-coming-to-donegal-637202\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Fascinating 1926 Census exhibition coming to Donegal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fascinating-1926-census-exhibition-coming-to-donegal.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Fascinating 1926 Census exhibition coming to Donegal\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/boat-stolen-from-under-glenties-bridge-637201\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Boat stolen from under Glenties bridge\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/boat-stolen-from-under-glenties-bridge.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Boat stolen from under Glenties bridge\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Judge Daly asked Cooley if he wished to plead guilty or seek a hearing date and he replied: \u201cI would appreciate it if you don\u2019t speak to anyone bar me. I am entitled to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judge Daly again warned Cooley that he would be cut off and the volume on the sound coming from the video link was cut.<\/p>\n<p>The case was put on hold for two hours, but upon his return on the scene Cooley demanded: \u201cIs there a reason I wasn\u2019t allowed to speak earlier on?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He told Judge Daly: \u201cI\u2019m talking to you. I\u2019m asking you a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cooley alleged \u201ccorruption\u201d within the Donegal courts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When again asked as to his position with his plea, Cooley responded: \u201cI am asking you a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cooley continued to talk over Judge Daly, saying: \u201cI have things to say\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Daly advised Cooley that \u201cthis isn\u2019t appropriate for today\u201d and advised that the case would be put back for a week for him to think about.<\/p>\n<p>The volume on Cooley\u2019s feed was again cut off and the defendant could be seen continuing to talk and gesture to the court.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Cooley was jailed for four years following a savage and unprovoked attack on a teenage woman.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/man-jailed-for-savage-attack-on-teenage-woman-in-letterkenny-634958\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cooley was jailed at Letterkenny Circuit Court<\/a> for the random attack on Shanan Reid McDaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that Cooley rained a series of punches on the then 18-year-old\u2019s face on October 15, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Cooley denied the attack and told Gardai that the allegation against him was \u201cbullshit\u201d while he was said to have been \u201cextremely derogatory\u201d about Ms Reid McDaid and other women.<\/p>\n<p>Cooley has been in prison since last June, when he was remanded in custody for repeated bail breaches, and his barrister, Mr James McGowan SC, said that being incarcerated has been \u201cdifficult\u201d for his client.<\/p>\n<p>Judge John Aylmer described then incident as a \u201cvery violent physical attack\u201d and imposed a four-year prison sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Donegal man jailed last month for a savage assault on a teenage woman launched a series of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-490664","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\/490664","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=490664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}