Limerick woman accused of headbutting garda at station

A YOUNG Croom woman charged with two counts of assault had her case adjourned, at Newcastle West court, until September. Judge Mary Larkin said she wanted a pre-sanction report on the accused, Ciara Earls of Church Road, Croom.

Inspector Andrew Lacey said that on April 23 last year, gardai were called to a house in Croom where Ms Earls was behaving in a violent manner towards her brother.

When the gardai arrived, she became very aggressive and abusive to gardai and abusive to her brother. She “squared up” to Garda Harrington and headbutted her brother, the inspector said.

After being arrested and brought to Newcastle West garda station, she began to headbutt a Perspex divider, the inspector continued. When Garda Harrington attempted to restrain her, she stood up and headbutted him, hitting him on the nose.

The court also heard that following an accident in Croom on November 10, 2019, in which Ms Earls hit a parked car, she was arrested and subsequently found to have a concentration of 126mg per 100ml of blood.

Pleading for the defendant, solicitor Con Barry said his client’s brother had withdrawn his statement (of complaint) and Ms Earls apologised for what happened.

She had begun drinking at age 15, he said, and had since been dealing with her addictions. Ms Earls had completed a residential course at Cuan Mhuire last November, he said and had since been receiving after-care. Mr Barry also handed into court a HSE letter about his client’s health.

He pleaded that a conviction for assault would not be made as it could affect his client’s employment prospects.

But Inspector Lacey said they could not withdraw the assault charge against Garda Harrington.

The matter will come back into court again on September 10 when a pre-sanctioned report will be available.