Cork man jailed for using ‘his car as a weapon’ against cyclist

A Cork man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a cyclist by hitting him with his car has been given a custodial sentence in the district court.

Court presenter Trish O’Sullivan told Macroom District Court that Brian O’Sullivan, aged 38, of Gurrane, Clondrohid, Macroom, Co Cork, was charged with dangerous driving, assault, threatening and abusive behaviour, and not having a valid tax disc on a vehicle.

The court heard that a cyclist reported that he was riding his bicycle near the Coachford Equestrian Centre at 9.30am on March 24, 2025.

A large Volvo car approached at speed and narrowly missed him as it sped past.

The cyclist reached Coachford a short time later and saw the car parked outside a supermarket.

The cyclist was taking a picture of the car in order to report the incident to gardaí when O’Sullivan came out of the shop.

The court was told that O’Sullivan immediately became abusive towards the cyclist, using foul language and warning him not to report the matter.

The cyclist left the area and was cycling away when the same car approached him again and pushed him into the ditch. The court was told that the wing mirror of the car made contact with the injured party.

Shouting

O’Sullivan stopped the car, wound down the window, and began shouting at the cyclist again, telling him not to report the incident. He then got out of the car and continued shouting abusively.

The court also heard that a silver Skoda car registered in O’Sullivan’s name was observed on August 24, 2025, parked in a public place, not displaying valid insurance or tax discs. The court heard that the tax had expired in May, and the insurance disc did not correlate to the vehicle.

The car was seized by gardaí.

The court was told O’Sullivan, who was brought to court from custody, had 65 previous convictions, including one for assault and two for assault causing harm.

Defence solicitor Patrick Goold said O’Sullivan had some dispute with the description of the incident with the cyclist, but was pleading guilty to all charges.

Upset

He said his client was very upset at the time because he had other ongoing issues with the gardaí and he did not want another incident to be reported.

He said O’Sullivan had overreacted and a “shouting match” had developed.

He said O’Sullivan was a tiler who was in partnership with another individual and his business was “falling apart” due to his legal issues. He also had some difficulty with drugs that had been “going on for a number of years”.

Judge Joanne Carroll said O’Sullivan was a mature man, but at this stage in his life he still appeared to have issues with drugs. She said O’Sullivan had effectively “used his car as a weapon” against the cyclist.

For dangerous driving, he was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison and disqualified from driving for two years. For assault, he was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison.

The threatening and abusive behaviour charge was taken into consideration, and the prison sentences are to run concurrently. 

For non-display of the tax and insurance discs, he was convicted and fined €150 for each offence, payable forthwith, with one day in lieu in prison for each charge if the fines are not paid.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme