Court orders Waterford man to forfeit truck deposit after assault

A man has been ordered to forfeit his claim to a deposit he was owed because he assaulted the person who owed it.

Tony Raftis (50) of 53 Kilcarragh Court, Kilcarragh Village, Ballygunnar, Waterford, pled guilty to assault and trespass at a sitting before Judge John Cheatle at Waterford District Court. 

The court heard that on December 16, 2023, the defendant went to a residence and business in the Tramore area, and in the course of an altercation, had assaulted the injured party. The incident was captured on three mobile phones. Footage from the phones was played in the court and showed an altercation between three men, the defendant and two other men.

The court heard that the defendant had gone to the residence in a dispute over a deposit on a truck. He jumped the fence, and an altercation ensued, wherein the injured party was assaulted. Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham told the court that his client was in receipt of disability allowance but had been attempting to set up a small business.

He had put down a deposit on a truck being sold by the injured party. The truck was priced at €7,500, and the defendant had put down €2,000 as a deposit. The defendant fell into financial difficulty and was unable to proceed with the purchase of the truck. When he attempted to retrieve his deposit, the injured party told him it would be returned when the truck was sold. When the defendant objected to the proposed arrangement, the injured party told him to go to his solicitor.

The defendant went to the premises, and there was “pushing and shoving.” 

The solicitor said his client accepted that the injured party was injured, and while the situation was “not a defence, it was an explanation”.  He also said his client had still not received his deposit back. The defendant told the court that he acknowledged he should not have acted as he did but it had taken a considerable amount of time for him to raise the money, and that the two men had “ganged up” on him.

However, Judge Cheatle pointed out that while it was a business premises, it was also the injured party’s home and the small claims court could have resolved the matter.

“I wouldn’t like someone to come to my home and do that,” said Judge Cheatle. The judge sentenced the defendant to five months in prison, suspended for five months, for the assault. He made a compensation order to the injured party for the amount of the deposit but said the defendant did not need to pay it. The judge agreed with Mr Cunningham that it was, in effect, a forfeiture order. The trespass charge was taken into consideration.