Hepatitis C sufferer sentenced to two years for biting garda
A woman with Hepatitis C who bit a garda after breaching a barring order from her mother's home has been given a two-year sentence by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.
Sandra Pepper (aged 38) of Kilclare Drive, Tallaght pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda Padraig Mullarkey at her mother's home on December 2, 2006.
Gda Mullarkey and a colleague had responded to a call and when they entered and found Pepper lying on a bed surrounded by empty alcohol bottles, she told them: "You won't get me out of here alive."
Pepper resisted arrest, kicking out at the gardaí, but they managed to handcuff her left hand. While Gda Mullarkey was attempting to restrain her right hand Pepper bit down on his thumb.
He attended at Tallaght Hospital where samples of his blood were taken, a tetanus shot administered and he was given instructions on how not to pass blood diseases he had potentially contracted onto his family.
A series of tests for hepatitis and other diseases carried out since then have all been returned negative.
Judge Hogan who adjourned sentencing in July so that a Probation Service report could be prepared noted she had only attended one appointment out of five and had committed five shoplifting offences in the intervening period.
Defence counsel, Mr David Whelehan BL, said Pepper had been doing well after the last hearing but had gone back to drinking heavily and had developed serious liver problems.
