A farmers’ MooPoo outing at Tedfest descended into violence after a young farmer produced an imitation handgun from his boxer shorts in a confrontation with another man.
At Ennis Circuit Court, counsel for Alan McNulty, Patrick Whyms BL, said: “You couldn’t make this up, but if you did you would probably locate it at a Father Ted festival in Lisdoonvarna.”
In the case, Mr McNulty, 29, of Oakland House, Ruan, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to the possession of a realistic imitation firearm at The Square, Lisdoonvarna, on 6 May 2018.
Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly BL, told the court that Garda Christopher White came upon a scene at 7.45pm at The Square where “there was a number of people present who appeared to have various injuries”.
Garda White told the court “there was a lot of walking wounded”.
Street fight
The street fight involving a number of men was sparked by a confrontation between Mr McNulty and Ennis man JP Keating (28) where Mr McNulty produced the imitation firearm.
Mr Connolly told the court that Mr McNulty was in Lisdoonvarna with other Teagasc students who were involved in a MooPoo event for charity at Tedfest.
The students were selling numbered tickets that corresponded to quadrants in a field and the winner was the ticket holder who had the quadrant in which the cow defecated.
Mr Connolly said that Mr Keating had purchased a ticket for the MooPoo at the Ritz pub and Mr Keating and Mr McNulty later had words.
Mr Connolly said that a very drunk Mr McNulty went to his car to get the imitation firearm or pellet gun and he met Mr Keating on the street.
Pistol
Mr Connolly stated that Mr Keating in his statement said to Gardaí: “Out of nowhere I spotted what looked to be a firearm - a pistol he was taking out of his boxers.”
Mr Connolly said Mr Keating “then shouted ‘he has a fucking gun’ and he wanted to inform people that they were in imminent danger”.
Mr Connolly said that Mr Keating “went into survival mode, he feared for his life and he tried to disarm Mr McNulty whilst also assaulting him”.
Mr Connolly stated that the gun was knocked out of Mr McNulty’s hand.
Mr Whyms stated that the confrontation over the gun “had set in train a bizarre sequence of events”.
Herd instinct
He said that herd instinct then kicked in, with people from the two sides getting involved in fights with each other.
Mr McNulty had a chipped tooth, blood to his face and had no recollection of what happened from the incident.
Mr Whyms stated that Mr McNulty had only used the gun to scare off birds and pointed out that it wasn’t illegal to own or purchase such a gun and that Mr McNulty hasn’t drank alcohol since.
He stated that a probation report found that Mr McNulty has a very low risk of re-offending and that was occurred was a senseless overreaction compounded by alcohol.
Judge Gerald Keys imposed a €1,000 fine on Mr McNulty and gave him six months to pay.