Man headbutted cattle dealer at livestock market

Man headbutted cattle dealer at livestock market

6 April 2022

A CATTLE dealer headbutted a rival dealer at a local livestock market, a court has heard.

At Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday, Patrick Carr (40) was convicted of carrying out an assault at Saintfield livestock market.

Carr was given a four-month suspended jail sentence by District Judge Amanda Brady and was ordered to pay £750 in compensation to the injured man.

The victim said he had been attending a cattle sale on September 23, 2020 when Carr “came up to my face” and asked why he was bidding for certain cattle.

The man said he told Carr it was none of his business after which Carr called him a “wee boy”. When the man responded by calling him a ‘bully”, Carr headbutted him on the nose.

Asked a prosecutor how he felt, the man replied: “I was shocked and a bit scared, but I held my ground.”

He said he told the manager of the market what had happened and was given a cloth by a member of the staff because his nose was bleeding. He said that he shook hands with Carr, but felt pressured into doing so.

The man said he contacted his uncle and told him what happened. He then told Carr he was going to report the matter to the police. “He asked me not to. I said I would see.”

The man said he had paper stitches put on the wound that night. Two days later he contacted police because his nose was still sore and he could not sleep. 

Cross-examined by a defence lawyer, the man denied that he held a “vendetta” against Carr, or that he was “attempting to tarnish his name”.

Denying the charge, Carr, of Drumlough Road, Rathfriland, said he was not involved in any altercation and did not not assault anyone.

He said he went to livestock sales six days a week and knew the injured party, but denied approaching him.

He said he felt there was a “witch hunt” against him and that he was being “bad-mouthed” by the injured party in order to affect his business.

Judge Brady said it was “one person’s word against the other”, but she accepted the injured party’s evidence.

She continued: “I do not accept the defendant’s evidence where he said nothing happened. I do not believe the injured party injured his own nose. It was an unprovoked headbutt.”

Bail was fixed to appeal.