Pensioner armed with chair leg attacked postman

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A PENSIONER armed with a chair leg wrapped in a black bin liner attacked a postman as he was doing his rounds.

Joe Willis, 74, from the Tamlaght Road later told police that postmen had been shouting “silly things” about him. At the town’s Magistrates Court on Tuesday, District Judge Des Perry told the pensioner he would have been sent to jail for the attack if he was a younger man.

Instead he was given conditional discharges for three years on charges of assault and possession of an offensive weapon. The Magistrates Court was told that on the morning of March 12 police received a report of an assault on the Tamlaght Road.

When the officers arrived at the scene they saw Willis and the on-duty postal working trying to restrain each other. The defendant had a black bag with an object wrapped inside it and was behaving aggressively.

It was subsequently discovered to be the leg of a chair. The postman told police he met Willis earlier and there were no issues with him but later the pensioner approached him and said, “What are you slobbering about?” The postman said he was talking to a woman when Willis accused them of talking about him.

The court heard he grabbed the postal worker by the throat. The postman then punched the assailant twice in self defence. Willis then ran into his house and came back out with the chair leg wrapped in the bin liner. The postman said he held onto him in order to defend himself. The female verified the postman’s account of the incident.

“Silly things”
When he was interviewed by police, Willis claimed at postal workers had been shouting “silly things” about him. He also said the woman and the postman were talking about him and it “needled” him. Although he denied grabbing the postman by the throat, Willis acknowledged he did put his hands up at him, and accepted he was in the wrong.

The pensioner told police he went into the house for the leg of the chair to “frighten” the postman. He also made a statement of complaint against his victim. Willis received an eye injury during the incident while the postman was taken to hospital by ambulance although his injuries were not detailed to the court.

Defence barrister Brian O’Sullivan, instructed by solicitor John McCaffrey, said his client accepted the incident took place in a public place although he didn’t intend to use the chair leg. He also asked for credit for the defendant’s guilty plea.

Judge Perry told Willis, “You have to realise if you were a younger man carrying out an assault on a public servant you would almost inevitably end up with a custodial sentence, but you are a considerable age.” Imposing the conditional discharges for each offence, the judge added, “Any further offences and the court will not treat you as leniently again.”