Five-time All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes could be jailed on Friday after being found responsible for a violent incident at a nightclub four years ago.
Mr Hayes, 25, of Ballashare, Co Kildimo, was found guilty by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court in December last year of assaulting someone inside Limerick’s Icon nightclub on October 28, 2019. Hayes, who has no criminal record, denied the charges.
CCTV footage from inside the club showed Hayes and others punching Cillian McCarthy, 24, in the crowded dance area.
Violent disorder is an offense under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 and is punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years.
Mr Hayes was acquitted by a jury of assault which caused harm to Mr McCarthy outside the club that evening.
Two gardaí gave evidence that they each witnessed Hayes kicking and stomping a man on the head and body outside the Icon nightclub that night. However, the court said there was no CCTV footage of the alleged attack outside the premises.
A two-week trial last December heard allegations that Hayes and others attacked Mr McCarthy on the club’s dance floor and repeatedly punched him in the head.
Hayes allegedly warned McCarthy and another man to “stay away” from two women who were chatting at a bar attached to the nightclub.
Mr McCarthy told the court that when he told Mr Hayes he knew the girls, Mr Hayes became aggressive and said: “Do you know who I am?”
In an interview with gardaí after his arrest, Hayes admitted that when he arrived at the scene he was told by gardaí not to leave the area and fled outside the club. Mr Hayes claimed he ran away not because he was involved, but because he just wanted to get away from the scene of the violence.
Mr Hayes said he eventually stopped running from Garda detectives who were chasing him on foot because he was worried he would be “looked guilty” by running away.
Mr Hayes was remanded on bail on €100 bail after being found guilty of violent disorder. He agreed to surrender his passport to gardaí, not apply for new travel documents, abide by a curfew and not commit any further offenses while on bail.
Judge Dermot Sheehan said Hayes’ conduct on the dance floor of a crowded club was “extremely dangerous”.
The judge said he was seriously considering a “prison sentence.”
A number of statements will be considered in court on behalf of Hayes, who was named Young Hurler of the Year in 2018.
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