A DUBLIN woman has been spared jail after she admitted attacking a taxi-driver and breaking a bottle over his head.
Sarah Fitzgerald (23), of Sycamore Lawn, Carpenterstown, Castleknock pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Ji Yu Song and causing him harm on July 5, 2014 in Ranelagh.
Judge Martin Nolan gave Fitzgerald a suspended sentence of two and a half years and told her that she had "come very close" to going to prison.
He said Fitzgerald had been a "secondary actor" in the assault and that her co-accused and former boyfriend, Gary Crowley, had been the main aggressor.
Assault
The court heard that Crowley was previously sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in the assault.
Detective Garda James O'Donnell told Tom Neville BL, prosecuting, that taxi-driver Ji Yu Song was heading home in the early hours when he picked up a girl in Blanchardstown.
She passed her phone to Mr Song and a man told him to take the girl first to Meath Street, then to Jurys Inn at Christ Church, where the man got into the taxi and asked the driver to take them to Ranelagh. On arrival the man gave the driver €5 but refused to pay the outstanding €20.
The man punched Mr Song over his right eye, knocking off his glasses, and the girl also gave Mr Song a bang on the back of the head.
Mr Song heard glass breaking around him and realised the woman had hit him at least twice with the bottle.
He told gardai later that both the man and the woman punched and kicked him.
Witnesses called gardai and the couple fled to a nearby men's shelter where they were arrested.
The court heard Fitzgerald no longer drinks and attends AA meetings and counselling.
No comments:
Post a Comment