Man charged with assault on security guard at bookies

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Galway Daily courts Man charged with possessing images of child sex abuse
credit: Robert Linsdell CC BY 2.0 'The Courthouse, Courthouse Square, Galway'

A trip to the bookies ended with a little more action than most races, with one man charged with assault on a security guard at Boyle Sports.

Godfrey Okucha, pleaded guilty at Galway District Court to assault against a member of staff at Boyle Sports on the Headford road on March 5 of 2018.

The court heard that Mr Okucha, formerly of the Great Western but now receiving the assistance of COPE, struck the security guard several times around the head.

Gardaí were able to identify Mr Okucha off of cctv footage taken from Boyle Sports.

The victim of this assault declined to attend court or provide a victim impact statement.

Solicitor for the defence John Martin said that this incident was the result of a disagreement between his client and the staff member, and also claimed that two other people were involved.

He said that his client is an asylum seeker who is taking a course to work in the medical devices industry, and had previously dealt with alcoholism issues from working as a bartender.

Judge Mary Fahy said that at the end of the day he went into a store and assaulted staff there, adding that “in his own mind he doesn’t agree that he did anything wrong”.

Judge Fahy adjourned sentencing to March 23 of 2020 for a full probation report and garda behavioural report before she would consider community service.

The judge added that if Mr Okucha is keeping company that is getting him involved in trouble, he should stay away from them.