A licensed huntsman convicted of assaulting a man meditating in his back garden by shooting him in the leg will be sentenced next July.
Wicklow man Maurice Mahon (81) was convicted last March of reckless discharge of a firearm at Kilmashogue Lane in Rathfarnham, Dublin on August 28th, 2022. He was also convicted of assaulting Innokenti Belaga causing harm on the same occasion.
Mahon, a licensed gun holder and karate grandmaster, was stalking deer in a field adjacent to the garden at the back of Belaga’s rented home in Rathfarnham at about 9pm when he discharged the shot that went through the victim’s right femur, shattering it.
At the time the victim was meditating while standing at the bottom of his garden with his dog nearby.
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During the sentencing hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, prosecuting counsel Brian Storan told Judge Elma Sheahan that the State’s case was that not that Mahon intended to cause harm but that he was reckless in his actions.
The victim spent a month in hospital and long periods as an in-patient in a rehabilitation hospital. He required the use of a wheelchair for periods and now needs walking sticks.
In his victim impact statement read out by Storan, the father of one told the court that before the assault he was an accomplished athlete, competing in underwater hockey, snorkelling, bouldering and climbing.
He said he would participate weekly in 20 hours of intense to moderate exercise, including mountain running with his 25kg border collie who he would sometimes carry down from hikes on his shoulders.
He said he did advanced yoga and circuit training in UCD, regularly did 1,500 “tuck jumps” on a trampoline and enjoyed dancing and acting as well as working in heavy ceramics.
“Overnight I became someone who was playing bingo with sick elderly people. Life as I knew is essentially over for me,” he said.
He said he now can’t run or climb and falls often. He said he feels vulnerable to accident or attacks and cannot sleep on his right side.
He said because of the level of care required for the year after the shooting he lost his rented home and is now homeless, which is made harder by his disability.
In his statement he said the biggest impact of the attack was on his young daughter. He said he used to carry her on his shoulders, jump with her on the trampoline and take her into the forest.
He said because of the shooting he disappeared from her life overnight.
“My heart bleeds for her. She had a healthy happy devoted father – all she has now is a broken cripple who can’t even explain to her what happened and why,” he said.
He said that he was shot while meditating in the back of his garden, a place he felt safest. “I don’t feel safe anywhere any more,” he said.
The victim thought at the time that he had been shot on purpose and thought he would be shot again and killed. As a result, he tried to move from where he lay injured but could only crawl a few metres away.
Having heard the shouts of pain Mahon found the victim and tried to assist, including getting emergency services to the scene.
Mahon, of Strand Road, Bray, Co Wicklow pleaded not guilty to both counts. After a trial, which ran from late February into March, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts.
He has no previous convictions.
Defending barrister Kieran Kelly said his client and another stalker had been hired by the landowner to shoot deer that were attacking his crops. He said Mahon had a licence to shoot deer and for four decades he had been hired by local councils for management of the species “and vermin”.
Mahon told gardaí at the scene that he had discharged a shot at what he thought was a fox in the vicinity of sheep. He later stated that he had thought it was a dog “worrying” the animals.
The judge ordered a Probation Service assessment and adjourned finalisation of sentence to July 27th. She remanded Mahon on continuing bail.
