Girl spared sentence following courthouse attack
A teenaged girl who kicked a woman in the stomach and threw a cup of coffee on her during a feud attack at a courthouse in Dublin has been spared a custodial sentence
The incident occurred at the Criminal Courts of Justice building in Dublin, on January 21 last. The then 17-year-old had pleaded guilty at the Children's Court last month to assaulting the woman.
A judge had directed that she would be spared a criminal conviction if she brought €250 to court as compensation.
Today Judge Clare Leonard noted that the money had been handed into court. She applied the Probation Offenders Act sparing the teen, who was accompanied to her case by her mother, a criminal record.
Earlier, Garda Jason O'Carroll had told the court that during the incident, two females began to shout at the victim who had just entered the building.
The teen “lunged” at the woman and then “kicked her in the stomach and threw contents of a cup of coffee over her”.
The defendant, who is now aged 18, had no prior criminal convictions.
The court had heard that there was “no love loss” between her and the victim. They generally try to avoid each other and the attack was not premeditated.
Gda O'Carroll had agreed saying “there seems to be a feud between the two families for a number of years”.
The defence had also submitted that the incident was “out of character” for the teen who is in education and hopes to go to college.
