A FORMER girlfriend of Mr Cathal Ryan told the High Court yesterday that she was awoken at a party by Ms Michelle Rocca hitting her in the face, pulling her hair and screaming obscenities at her.
Ms Sarah Linton said that when Mr Ryan got hold of Ms Rocca and got her out of the room she burst back in, screaming and "very frenzied". Ms Linton said Ms Rocca got her by the hair and hauled her around the room.
Ms Linton, who now lives in Italy, was giving evidence on the fifth day of the case in which Ms Rocca (38) is claiming damages for assault against Mr Ryan (37). He is denying the claims and, it is submitted that if he did the acts complained of there was provocation.
Ms Rocca claims the assault took place in a bedroom at a party at Blackhall Stud, near Clane, Co Kildare, on March 22nd, 1992. She was assaulted after she found Mr Ryan lying on the bed with Ms Linton, she claimed.
Answering Ms Fidelma Macken. SC, for Mr Ryan, Ms Linton said that in 1992 she was employed as a personal assistant at a stud farm in Tipperary. She first met Mr Ryan in February 1992 at a party in Cashel. Ms June Moloney introduced them. She knew her previously.
She met Mr Ryan a week later and then subsequently. She knew Mr Ryan had previously been involved with Ms Rocca for some time and that they had a little girl.
She recalled being invited to a party at Blackhall Stud by Ms Moloney, probably a week before. She was invited with Mr Ryan, whom she had been seeing on a regular basis.
On the night before the Saturday party she drove to the house of Mr Ryan's father, Dr Tony Ryan, in Tipperary and there was a dinner party.
On Saturday they ought a birdcage in Nenagh as a present and arrived at the party between 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. in separate cars. She followed Mr Ryan, they arrived together and went into the party together.
There were about 20 people there. She had no more than three gin and tonics as she had intended to drive back to Tipperary that night.
Asked if she knew Ms Rocca would be there, she said Mr Ryan had told her. She believed there was no relationship between Mr Ryan and Ms Rocca and that it had ended over a year before.
She saw Ms Rocca come into the room but she (Ms Linton) continued talking to a friend. She had never met Ms Rocca but knew her from photographs.
Ms Linton said there was no communication between Mr Ryan and Ms Rocca. Ms Linton said she mingled and spoke with Mr Ryan and others. She was extremely tired and she asked Ms Moloney if she could lie down for an hour.
Ms Moloney showed her where to go. She went to the far bed near the window, took off her shoes and earrings and went to sleep. Asked what was the next thing she knew, Ms Linton said: "Somebody was hurting me, hitting me in the face and head, pulling my hair and screaming obscene language at me.
Ms Macken asked who the person was who was hurting her. Ms Linton: "Ms Rocca was the person hurting me." There was a light shining into the room from the corridor. She did not recall anyone else in the room at that time. Mr Ryan was beside her on the bed. They were lying side by side and he had his arm over her.
Ms Macken said Ms Rocca in evidence had said Mr Ryan was slumped on the bed, the worse for drink. Ms Linton said when she left to go upstairs, she would have considered Mr Ryan very sober.
"She was hurting me and hitting me. Cathal was lying between us and she was reaching over him to hurt me. I got out the other side of the bed. I stood up and I was crying. Ms Rocca started to caress Cathal to try to wake him up. She pulled him out of the bed," Ms Linton said.
Ms Macken said Ms Rocca had stated that she (Ms Linton) had lunged at her. Ms Linton: "That is not correct. I was extremely petrified and extremely upset. I was crying." Ms Macken said Ms Linton had indicated that Ms Rocca had pulled Mr Ryan out of bed. Ms Linton said that Cathal was awake in a matter of seconds. He realised what had happened and he got hold of Ms Rocca and put her outside and closed the door.
Asked how he had held Ms Rocca, Ms Linton replied: "Certainly firmly."
She walked towards Mr Ryan. The door burst open and Ms Rocca entered the room screaming and she got me by the hair and hauled me around the bedroom. She was very frenzied and she got hold of my hair and I wasn't able to do anything. She wouldn't let go, she was hurting me. She flung me against the table and lamp," Ms Linton said.
Mr Ryan got hold of Ms Rocca and removed her again from the room. "I was extremely petrified. I was terribly, terribly upset. I have never in my life experienced such violence. I wasn't able to defend myself. It happened so fast. She was holding me by the hair. I was trying to stop her from pulling my hair. I was trying to get my hair away from where she held me. I was trying to relieve the pain by getting hold of her arm and I landed on the table and lamp. I fell on to it and it fell."
There was a struggle between Mr Ryan and Ms Rocca while they were in the room.
When asked who was being beaten by or hurt by Ms Rocca, Ms Linton replied: "I was." She said Mr Ryan was not being attacked. He got hold of Ms Rocca and pushed her quite hard to get her away from her (Ms Linton) out of the room.
Asked about the strength of the attack by Ms Rocca, Ms Linton said: "I consider her very violent. She was extremely strong in her attack on me."
Asked whether she saw Mr Ryan go to attack Ms Rocca, she said she did not. Asked if she saw him punch Ms Rocca between the eyes, she said she did not. Mr Ryan was protecting her.
Mr Justice Moriarty said there had been a suggestion that Mr Ryan had struck Ms Rocca with a haymaker. Could she recall what thing might have been done?
Ms Linton said: "I certainly didn't see Cathal strike her. He handled her very firmly and I believe there was a struggle in getting her out of the room. I wasn't watching. I was so upset. I didn't see very clearly. I had not seen him strike her."
When they left the room, she was on her own. She believed Mr Ryan was trying to placate Ms Rocca's "frenzied attack". She went to look for Mr Ryan at the end of the corridor. She heard whispered voices from behind a door, which she presumed was a bathroom. It was Mr Ryan's voice consoling Ms Rocca. She did not want to hear and she sat in a bedroom doorway.
A gentleman saw her and he brought up his wife, who took her into a bedroom and put her arms around her to console her. She was very distressed and in shock.
Mr Ryan then arrived and brought her downstairs and put her into the car. He was very concerned about her. Mr Ryan drove them back to Tipperary. She cried the whole journey. She was extremely upset.
On Sunday morning she noticed a small scratch on her face and bruises on her legs which she believed may have been caused when she landed on the table. On Monday she went to her doctor in Fethard and described the scene.
Ms Macken asked if she was aware that this case was coming on. Ms Linton said she was not aware until her solicitor, Mr John Power, contacted her last Wednesday. "I was very reluctant to get involved and to relive the whole horrible scene again," she said. She said she was living in Tuscany in Italy, where she was looking after a 10 year old girl.