A MAN with a previous conviction for attempted murder assaulted and taunted a man who had begun a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, before then damaging the boat on which he lived.

Joao Tiago Cardoso Santos, with an address at 3A Higher O’Connell Street, Kinsale, in Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Bandon District Court to an assault, criminal damage and a public order charge arising out of the incident on October 10 last.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy told judge John King that at 8.30pm the injured party was outside Apache Pizza in Kinsale having a cigarette when he was approached by the defendant and punched in the face.

Some 15 minutes later, when the injured man had returned to work inside the building, Cardoso Santos returned and in the words of Sgt Mulcahy, “taunted him”, shouting abuse and giving him the middle finger.

Damage to boat

The court heard that the injured man lives on a boat moored in Long Quay in the town and that later the same evening €300 worth of damage was caused to it.

Cardoso Santos, who is 28, was interviewed by gardaí on October 22 last and made admissions and was later charged.

The court heard that Cardoso Santos had one previous conviction in Ireland for a section 2 assault, for which he was fined €500 last December, and one previous conviction in his native Portugal for an attempted murder. That conviction dated from 2014 and solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said it related to an incident in 2012 when his client was a much younger man.

Mr Taaffe said Mr Cardoso Santos was working in Kinsale and had been in a relationship with a Spanish woman and when that relationship ended she began a relationship with the injured man.

Cardoso Santos considered this to be disrespectful, Mr Taaffe said, adding that CCTV showed the men speaking for some time before the physical assault. 

“This man just lashed out at him in retaliation,” he said.

As for the boat incident, Mr Taaffe said his client had made a frank admission about it and that as there was no CCTV footage it might otherwise have been hard for gardaí to bring a successful prosecution.

Mr Taaffe said following the attempted murder incident his client had been with the Portuguese Airforce for a regulation three years before being honourably discharged and that he now worked as a graphic designer. The court was told he had brought €300 to court in compensation.

The judge commented that “this behaviour is off the scale” and requested a probation report be prepared, with the matter to return to court on July 20 next.