Courts

Man serving sentence for secretly filming young girls given suspended term for attack on RTÉ cameraman

Former swim coach Matthew Coward (32) twice hit Micheál Mac Suibhne with shoulder as he left Dublin court

Matthew Coward (32) received a three-year sentence in November for secretly filming young girls while working as a swimming coach. Photograph: Paddy Cummins

Tom Tuite
Wed Apr 3 2024 - 14:19

A former swimming coach jailed for secretly filming girls as they got changed has been spared an extra prison sentence for a “frightening” and “unnecessary” attack on an RTÉ cameraman outside a courthouse.

Matthew Coward (32), formerly of Shantalla Drive, Santry, received a three-year sentence in November following a Garda investigation into his activities at a swimming complex.

He appeared on Wednesday via video-link at Dublin District Court to plead guilty to assaulting Micheál Mac Suibhne on December 22nd, 2022. The incident happened while Coward, who was on bail, was leaving a hearing at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ).

Judge Michele Finan handed down a consecutive four-month sentence but suspended it on condition that Coward did not reoffend within 12 months of his release in 2026.

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Garda Chris Maguire told Judge Finan that Mr Mac Suibhne followed and recorded Coward as he left a hearing in the Criminal Courts of Justice and walked up Infirmary Road.

The Garda said Coward hit Mr Mac Suibhne twice with his shoulder, causing him to stumble into a tree. He did not fall but dropped his camera, the court heard.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Mac Suibhne said he has had a 36-year career but that camera crews have become “easy targets” for abuse and pointless hostility since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is the first time I have put a description of what happened in the aftermath on paper and it’s been difficult. In three words: frightening, unnecessary, damaging,” he said.

“I went into a mental autopilot after the attempt was made to push me out in front of the traffic on Infirmary Road, and that would have been the end of that. I understand that I am mortal and will meet my maker, but on that morning in December of 2022, I thought I was about to realise that.”

He said Coward’s actions had “frightened the life out of me for quite a while and ruined a Christmas with my family” as the incident had left him depressed, snappy and absent-minded. However, he said he had no hard feelings toward Coward and wanted him to be given a suspended sentence.

Judge Finan thanked Mr Mac Suibhne for speaking “so eloquently and compassionately” about his experience. She said Coward’s aggression toward someone in the media as they were doing their job reflected on society.

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