Laois woman who climbed over neighbour's wall and shouted ‘I have your hair, you whale’ given suspended sentence
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A PORTARLINGTON woman who climbed over a garden wall and carried out an assault on her neighbour was given a suspended sentence when she came before last week’s sitting of Portlaoise District Court.
Facts had already been given in the case at a previous sitting.
At that hearing, the court heard that on 11 April last year, when a neighbour was coming home from work at 7.45pm, Bridget Nevin (48), Kilmalogue Park, Portarlington, ‘believing that her neighbour had made offensive comments to her, climbed over the garden wall, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the ground.’ She pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to her neighbour.
According to evidence given in court, Ms Nevin ‘pulled chunks of hair out of her neighbour before they were separated. When she had the chunks of hair in her hand, she shouted at her neighbour ‘I have your hair, you whale’.’ The case had been adjourned for gardaí to canvass an impact statement from the victim.
When the case resumed last week, Ms Nevin’s solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said there was no medical report before the court and that her client had brought €300 to court to compensate the injured party.
She said that because of the incident, the defendant had to leave the house she had been living in and move to Wales, where she has accommodation.
Judge Andrew Gubbins said that the probation service report on the defendant has suggested that a suspended prison sentence might be the appropriate way of dealing with the case, that it may have been a once-off incident and that there was alcohol involved at the time.
He said considering that Ms Nevin is not now residing in the country and “is attempting to battle her demons,” he imposed a three-month custodial sentence, which he suspended for 12 months.
