A verdict in the case of six Edgeworthstown men charged with an alleged assault at a mosque is expected on October 19th.
Judge John Cheatle put back the issue to next month after hearing two days of evidence in the case arising from a row in Longford in August 2015.
Dr Syed Ali gave evidence in court that he was part of the committee of the mosque and was a trustee on the day of the alleged assault on August 21st 2015.
He claimed that after the Imam has told the congregation that he would be leaving the mosque, one of the accused stood up and asked that the imam stay.
However, the alleged victim then also spoke up and a row developed between both men.
Dr Ali said he witnessed the victim being slapped across the face by one of the accused and another two of the accused men allegedly assaulting him.
In cross-examination, defence counsel Niall Flynn claimed that a number of incidents that Dr Ali mentioned during his testimony were missing from his Garda statement.
He queried why there was no mention of the mosque doors being shut to prevent people from leaving following the row, and there was no record of Dr Ali having been asked to try and calm the situation in the immediate aftermath of the row by Gardai at the scene or that two men were aggressive towards him.
Dr Ali acknowledged that ‘things were missing’ from his Garda statement but that he would not lie after taking an oath on the Koran.
The court also heard evidence from Garda Colm Satchwell, who arrived at the mosque following a call for back-up from Garda Michael Belton, who was first on the scene
Garda Satchwell told the court that the crowd in the mosque appeared to be hostile and that one of the accused was acting in an aggressive manner.
The matter was postponed to October 19th when a number of applications are expected to be made behalf of the accused and a verdict is likely to be delivered by the judge.
