It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black when a 50-year-old criminal with 336 convictions hit his 20-year-old daughter for allegedly stealing a drink in a hotel bar.

Paul Maye, of Sallys Wood, Irvinestown, was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for two years, after he admitted being disorderly in the Lough Erne Hotel in Kesh.

His daughter, Zoe Rogers, of Drumbeg, Enniskillen, also admitted being disorderly in the licensed premises and was given 60 hours of community service.

She was further ordered to pay £150 for breaching a Binding Over Order imposed last September for a similar offence of being disorderly in a bar.

A prosecutor told Fermanagh Court that at 12.15am on May 17, police were called to the Lough Erne Hotel in Kesh following an altercation between Maye and Rogers. She claimed her father had slapped her a number of times in the face and pulled her hair. Officers viewed a CCTV recording of the father and daughter involved in a heated argument in a downstairs bar. It showed Maye hitting his daughter a number of times to the face and head and her picking up a bar stool and throwing it at him. Bar staff and other patrons could be seen trying to stop them.

The prosecutor said Maye identified himself and his daughter on the CCTV and claimed he was trying to eject her from the premises, believing she had stolen drink from the bar. He maintained it was a case of a father trying to discipline his daughter.

Rogers declined to watch the CCTV of the bar brawl.

Defence solicitor Michelle McVeigh said that on the night in question Rogers had been drinking and ended up at the Lough Erne Hotel. Her father mistakenly believed she had taken alcohol and hadn’t paid for it. He “chastised her and assaulted her”. She defended herself and called the police.

Miss McVeigh said Rogers had a previous conviction for a very similar offence when she was assaulted by her brother in a bar in Irvinestown. That incident was also caught on CCTV. The mother of one was very ashamed to be back before the court for a similar matter.

She said there was a “difficult relationship” between her and her father and while she told probation she didn’t have an issue with alcohol she was drinking on the night in question.

Defence solicitor Tommy Owens said Maye appeared in court as a result of an “unfortunate disagreement between himself and his daughter”.

District Judge Nigel Broderick commented: “He has a very lengthy (criminal) record Mr. Owens.” Mr. Owens pointed out that Maye’s last conviction for disorderly behaviour was back in 1995 for an offence committed in 1992.

The District Judge noted that Maye’s last court appearance was in 2009.

He told Maye: “You have a very poor record.

“This was an unsavoury situation,” he added.

He said what concerned him was the “high number of previous convictions” and the probation officer’s assessment that there was a “high likelihood” of Maye committing further offences.

The District Judge said he was minded to leave something hanging over Maye’s head.

He noted that Maye was the victim of a serious offence in 2001 which had a serious affect on his health.

He sentenced him to five months in prison, suspended for two years.

Maye was granted bail of £500 to appeal against the sentence.