Grandson, 23, ‘bit woman on face till she cried’
A Cork woman was bear-hugged very tightly by her 23-year-old grandson, who then bit her on the face until she cried in pain at her home, a court heard yesterday.
The claim was made during a contested bail application at an in-camera hearing of Cork District Court.
The complainant said: “He can cry all he want, I am dropping no charges. This is the first time doing anything like this to me, and it is his last time.”
At one stage during the hearing, the accused had to be escorted from the court-room by gardaí on the instruction of Judge Con O’Leary due to the defendant’s repeated outbursts.
While being removed from court, he said to his grandmother: “Fucking liar”.
Garda Keith Shire said the main reason for the objection to bail for the accused was the fear that he would interfere with the witness.
Donal Daly, defence solicitor, said there had been ups and downs in the relationship between the defendant and his grandmother over the years, but yesterday was the first time there was physical harm done to her.
The young man was charged with breaching a safety order by assaulting his grandmother on March 11.
Mr Daly said: “He is very demonstrative, he is all hands and actions.”
Garda Shire replied: “He has been quite abusive to gardaí all day.”
Mr Daly said: “He hugs his grandmother four or five times a day. He did not, under any circumstances, mean to hurt her.”
Garda Shire responded: “She was bitten to the point where she was roaring and fearing for her safety.”
The complainant said she was afraid he would come straight back to her house if granted bail, even though he would tell everyone else he was going to stay somewhere else.
She testified that he caught her in a bear-hug, squeezed her hard, and bit her face.
The defendant said that what happened was that she was swinging for him at the time and that nothing happened and they were getting on grand.
“I gave her a hug and a kiss. I have feelings too, you know what I mean,” he said.
Sgt Kelleher asked how the defendant’s grandmother got a bite mark on her face. He replied: “Her skin goes dark easy. It was only from kisses. Her face goes red, very red.”
The defendant then pursed his lips and made several kissing sounds in the witness box.
“I am just trying to get my life together with my girlfriend. I don’t want (child) thinking I’m nobody. I am not a bad person. Even before, Con, you said I was not a bad person, that I made bad decisions. I never mean to do anyone bad intent … I apologise, Con O’Leary, for wasting your time,” he said to Judge O’Leary.
Sergeant John Kelleher asked the accused if he had taken heroin or anything else yesterday and he said he had not.
The judge remanded the accused in custody until today to appear again in court, possibly for a full hearing of the case.
