This article is from page 23 of the 2011-04-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
AN 18-year-old woman involved in what gardaí described as a “nasty assault” at Ennis courthouse last year has been told by a judge to stay out of trouble.
Rosanne Joyce (18) with an address at Dún na hInse, Ennis, appeared at a sitting of Ennis District Court on Wednesday on charges of assault and shoplifting.
Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that the assault had occurred just outside the courtroom when the defendant attacked a woman who had just given evidence against her brother.
Inspector Kennedy said Gardaí were forced to intervene, adding, “It was quite a nasty incident.”
Solicitor for the accused, Tara Godfrey said her client was very young and impressionable and had reacted to an allegation about her family.
Referring to the charge of shoplifting, Ms Godfrey said her client had been in the company of two other people at Dunnes Stores when clothes to the value of € 46 were taken.
Ms Godfrey said her client had pleaded guilty to shoplifting and that the probation services had previously highlighted the difficulties facing her client and her family.
The court was told that the woman had a number of previous convictions, including several for theft.
Judge Timothy Lucey said that the woman “seems full of good intentions but the facts contradict this”.
Responding to Judge Lucey’s question about whether she understood that she faced going to jail if she continued her current pattern of behaviour, the woman replied “yeah”.
Judge Lucey said he was enforcing the probation act “primarily because of her age”.
He told the woman that she was “starting with a clean slate” and advised her to stay out of trouble.