Punched brother after family row

Peter Joseph O’Hare (54) from Dree Hill appeared before the local court last week in relation to an incident that occurred at 2.50am on January 22.

The injured party, O’Hare’s brother rang police to say he had been assaulted by the defendant in his own home.

The court heard that earlier in the evening, the injured party received a phonecall from his elderly mother asking him to come and pick her up and take her to his house, as she had concerns about O’Hare coming home drunk and causing a disturbance.

There was a verbal exchange before O’Hare lunged at his brother and pushed him onto the ground.

The injured party then alleged O’Hare got up and a number of punches were thrown - some connected with the injured party’s chest and ribs.

His shirt was also ripped and damage to a door was observed.

Solicitor Mr Byrne said there had been a family fall out but his client accepted it would have been better for him to wait until the morning to sort it out.

He said O’Hare was unaware his mother had left the house to go to his brother’s. “He was angry and accepts he should have calmed down. He actually suffered a broken nose himself and came out of this worse off.

“He wants to put this unseemly incident behind him. He is highly embarrassed.”

Binding him over for two years to keep the peace, District Judge Mr Copeland warned O’Hare that he is prohibited from using aggressive or violent conduct.

He was bound over in the sum of £500.