A FORMER Miss Ireland, Ms Michelle Rocca, was dragged by the hair, kicked and punched and had her nose broken by a businessman, Mr Cathal Ryan, after she found him in bed at a party with another woman, the High Court was told yesterday.
Ms Rocca and Mr Ryan had been in a relationship which started in 1988 and had a daughter, Claudia, born in April 1991, the court heard. Mr Ryan is the son of Dr Tony Ryan, the founder of Ryanair and GPA.
The judge and jury were told that Ms Rocca had suffered a vicious, unprovoked, sustained assault at the hands of Mr Ryan.
Ms Rocca (38), Hampton Crescent, Booterstown, Co Dublin, is claiming damages for assault against Mr Ryan, De Vesci Terrace, Monkstown, Co Dublin. Mr Ryan is denying the claims and it is submitted that if he did the acts complained of, there was provocation.
Mr Liam Reidy SC, for Ms Rocca, in his opening submission said the proceedings arose from a very unfortunate event in the early hours of March 22nd, 1992, at Blackhall Stud, near Ciane, Co Kildare.
In April 1988, Ms Rocca compered the Eurovision Song Contest. During the course of the summer she received an invitation from Dr Tony Ryan to a September barn dance at his estate at Nenagh. It was there she met Mr Ryan, and their relationship started and grew stronger, so much so that in January 1989 Mr Ryan proposed marriage, and she accepted.
Both had a previous marriage. Ms Rocca had been married to a former Irish soccer international, John Devine. These matters needed to be finalised before they could get married, and she believed that in the fullness of time they would be married.
In 1989 the relationship was still going strong Mr Ryan moved to Bedfordshire, England, and Ms Rocca continued as a PR consultant in commercials and television in Dublin with her two daughters by Mr Devine.
Mr Ryan invited her to live with him in Bedfordshire and she joined him in July 1989. Mr Ryan had two children from his previous relationship, and they all lived together.
There were stormy patches in their relationship, but essentially it was solid during that period. During the summer of 1990, they decided to move hack to Ireland. Mr Ryan finalised custody arrangements concerning his children and they decided they would marry in September 1990.
When they moved back, they rented a house, Brighton Hall, in Foxrock, Dublin. In late November 1991 Mr Ryan told Ms Rocca that he felt they were going nowhere and wanted to get out. Shortly before Christmas he left. He dismissed the nanny and told the estate agent they were leaving the house.
Ms Rocca was in a distressed condition. She was pregnant and was being left on her own. She persuaded Dr Tony Ryan to pay the rent on the house. She managed by herself in terms of all other outgoings.
In April 1991 their daughter, Claudia, was born. The relationship was non existent, but she invited Mr Ryan to the birth. The relationship became better and they started going out again.
They later went to Ibiza and Mr Ryan then signed the lease on a house in Booterstown, Dublin. Ms Rocca still had hopes of getting married and continued in the relationship.
In late 1991, when she was working with Wilson Hartnell, she had post natal depression. In March 1992 they were still seeing each other and, as far as she was concerned, they were going to get married. She thought things were going to work out. She still loved him.
On the Wednesday prior to the Saturday when the alleged assault took place, Ms Rocca was staying with Ms June Moloney, a friend of Ms Rocca and Mr Ryan, at Blackhall Stud. Coincidentally, Mr Ryan rang while she was there. They had dinner together at Tulfarris House, and he asked her to stay there. During the course of the evening Mr Ryan asked her to marry him, and they were planning to do so in the following few months.
Ms Rocca was very happy indeed. Ms Moloney invited them both to her 30th birthday party the following Saturday.
As Ms Rocca and Mr Ryan were not living together, both agreed to attend, but were coming from different locations. He was living with his father in Nenagh and she in Dublin.
There were 30 to 40 people present at the party. They were having drinks and talking. Ms Rocca said she had a few dry martinis - not more than three. She was very wary because she knew Cathal was drinking. A meal was served.
She remembered looking for Mr Ryan and did not see him. She went upstairs and saw a bedroom door open on the landing. There was no light on in the room, which was large. There were two single beds.
Mr Ryan was in one bed. She said "wake up" and thought he had collapsed. She said she would bring him down. Out of the blue, a girl with long blonde hair emerged from the other side, the inside of the bed. She "kind of shot up" as if in surprise and got out of the bed.
Ms Rocca said: "What's happening?" The girl looked very dishevelled. Asked by her counsel, Mr Nicholas Kearns SC, if the girl was clothed or unclothed, Ms Rocca replied: "She did not look naked."
The girl lunged at her and she called Mr Ryan a bastard. He jumped out of bed. It all happened so fast. She did not hit him - she was not saying she did not afterwards. She was very upset and screaming. She did not strike the girl.
Mr Ryan pushed Ms Rocca across the room and knocked her to the floor. She was met with a "haymaker" punch right across the eyes of such ferocity that it broke her nose. He dragged her across the room by the hair, punched her "again and again and again" in the face and chest and kicked her in the back, chest, arms and legs.
"This sustained pummelling of the plaintiff lasted five minutes," said Mr Kearns. Mr Ryan dragged her down the hall to a room where he hoped to lock her in.
There was another man in the other bed in the bedroom, but he was not a participant. People came up the stairs. She was dazed and she remembered Mr Ryan saying: "Are you OK, Sarah?"
She had not known he had a companion. If she [Ms Rocca] had thought her fiance was in bed with a woman, she probably would not have gone into the room. She would not have spent the night with him in Tulfarris if he was seeing somebody else.
Her dress was all ripped and she was embarrassed and humiliated. It was very rare to be at a party and expect one's fiance to be in a bedroom with a woman. She thought that after the incident Mr Ryan "kind of left" - he went out. She did not see he had any marks.
Mr Reidy told the jury they would have the benefit of photographs taken of Ms Rocca two days after the event. They would graphically show the viciousness and sustained nature of the assault.
Some of the girls present gave her a bath. She stayed in a bedroom. She was worried about the condition of her face. She was shivering and felt sore all over. Her face and mouth were bleeding and her mouth and neck were sore. The incident happened about 1 or 2 a.m.
Mr Ryan had never admitted he assaulted Ms Rocca at all. He had never apologised, never said sorry.
"He did send his daddy, Dr Tony Ryan, with flowers to say sorry," said Mr Reidy. Mr Cathal Ryan had never been man enough to go to Ms Rocca and say sorry. To this day, he had maintained he never assaulted her.
A document was delivered the defence in March 1994. In it, Mr Ryan denied that he had assaulted her or that she suffered several personal injuries and, even if he did the acts complained of, there was provocation by Ms Rocca.
In 1996 Mr Ryan made another statement in a document. He said he and his then companion had travelled the considerable distance from Nenagh together and intended travelling back. They had taken a short rest in an upstairs bedroom. While they were resting, Ms Rocca who had imbibed alcohol, commenced to assault him and his companion.
Mr Reidy said the extent of the injuries suffered by Ms Rocca was documented by Dr Stephen Murphy, who saw her on March 22nd, the same day. He found 16 separate injuries. These were blows from a fist or foot that made connection with Ms Rocca's body.
Apart from the physical injury, the humiliation had to be considered. Ms Rocca was at a party where there were many people she knew from the racing fraternity. Every one of them was certain to know what happened.
Ms Rocca was in the position of being kicked and punched, helpless and humiliated.
After the incident, Mr Ryan did not have the guts or the manliness to apologise. He sent his father over with flowers. Dr Tony Ryan went over on the Thursday morning. He had rung on the Sunday morning to apologise. Ms Rocca indicated that Mr Cathal Ryan was not going to see their daughter. Dr Ryan was taken aback and wanted some arrangement for access.
Dr Ryan then sent a very experienced businessman, Mr Michael O'Leary, a director of Ryanair, to visit her, asking her about her financial situation and about allowing access.
On April 12th, 1992, Mr O'Leary presented her with a document which provided for access, with £1,000 a month maintenance for their daughter and a £5,000 sum for Ms Rocca and her children. She agreed to this and signed the document.
Mr Reidy said that, unknown to her, and at no stage did she have lawyer, a clause had been added that Ms Rocca accepted that she would make no more claims against Mr Ryan.
As far as Ms Rocca was concerned, the document related only to access and maintenance in terms of the upkeep of Claudia.
Mr Reidy said that, having considered all the factors Ms Rocca was in for a "rough ride" from the way the defence was conducting the case.