CITY TRIBUNE
Drunk assaulted teenage neighbour with leg of a duck
A leg of duck became a dangerous weapon in the hands of a highly intoxicated woman who swung it at a neighbour’s daughter, dislocating the teenager’s nose.
49-year-old Bianca Fahy found out she had Covid-19 a few days earlier, but removed her mask to cough and spat at Gardaí when they arrived to deal with a fracas between her and her neighbours at An Sean Bhaile, Doughiska at 3pm on February 3 last year.
Fahy pleaded guilty moments before her trial was due to begin before a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court last November to assaulting the 15-year-old girl, causing her harm, on that date.
She also pleaded guilty to two separate charges of assaulting Garda Seamus McDonnell and Garda Ciaran McCarthy while obstructing them in the course of their duty.
Fahy further pleaded guilty to breaching the peace, by engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at An Sean Bhaile and to being drunk in public on the same occasion. Sentencing had been adjourned in the case until now.
Prosecuting barrister, Geri Silke said the State was proceeding with the assaults on the teen and Garda McDonnell only, and that the pleas were acceptable on a ‘full facts’ basis in relation to the remaining charges.
Sergeant Grace Hennessy gave evidence the girl noticed Fahy outside her home punching a kick-boxing dummy, trying to knock it over. Fahy eventually managed to knock over the dummy and was in the process of trying to burn it when a young man came out of the house to try and stop her.
Fahy assaulted him and then turned her attention to his sister, hitting her in the face with a leg of duck she happened to have in her hand at the time.
The girl had to have her dislocated nose realigned in hospital.
When Garda McDonnell and McCarthy arrived a group of neighbours had gathered.
Fahy was running at them, roaring and shouting and trying to assault them.
Both Gardaí were aware Fahy had tested positive for Covid-19 a few days beforehand and while she was wearing a face mask, they repeatedly asked her to keep her distance from members of the public.
“She pulled down her mask and coughed at both Gardaí. She shouted at them she had Covid and continued to lash out, refusing to keep her social distance.
“Garda McCarthy had no choice but to restrain her and when he went to do so, she kicked his leg. It was bruised and tender for a few weeks afterwards,” Sgt Hennessy said.
Fahy was arrested and later denied punching the 15-year-old girl.
In her victim impact statement, which was read into evidence on her behalf, the girl said she no longer felt safe in her home.
She said she also felt self-conscious about her nose as it was no longer the same shape as before the assault.
The girl said she and her family still wondered why Fahy picked on their house. “I’ll be terrified if she doesn’t get punished for her threats,” the girl added in her statement.
Impact statements from both Gardaí were also read into evidence. Garda McCarthy said he knew before arriving at the scene that Fahy had Covid from dealing with her previously and both he and Garda McDonnell asked her to step back from them to prevent the spread of the virus.
“This was at a time when there was no vaccine and deaths were high. She ignored us and ran at us, took down her mask and coughed and spat at us,” he said.
He said he had to put a spit mask on her before he and Garda McDonnell could arrest her.
Both Gardaí had to undergo two PCR tests and isolate from their families and work colleagues for two weeks.
He said they missed out on work also at a time when resources were stretched due to the pandemic
“This was a horrific experience and totally unnecessary. She carried out a serious assault as she tried to infect both of us,” he added.
Both Gardai did not contract Covid and were able to return to work on February 19.
In his impact statement, Garda McDonnell said he had been a Garda for 24 years and he knew Fahy through his work for over ten years.
On the day, she was highly intoxicated and would not calm down, he said.
He found the 14-day Covid isolation period particularly distressing while having to take two PCR tests wasn’t nice either.
He said Fahy’s behaviour meant he had to endure torture by having to isolate for two weeks on his own.
“That was two weeks away from my family and friends. It was lonely and stressful and it brought the reality of the pandemic home to me and to my family. I hope I never have to go through that again, it was a lonely time,” he said in his statement.
Sgt Hennessy said Fahy had lived at An Sean Bhaile for several years and caused a lot of problems there. She said she had since been re-housed in Knocknacarra on the other side of the city.
Fahy was ‘nice and easy’ to deal with when sober, she said, before adding she had 119 previous convictions.
Ten were for assaults, 20 were for thefts, six for criminal damage and six for obstructing Gardai. The remaining were for road traffic offences, public order offences and one for possession of a knife.
Defence barrister, Garry MacDonald said his client was apologising to both Gardaí and her former neighbours.
He said his client was “extremely entertaining and fun to be around” when sober and she had not reoffended since moving out to Knocknacarra.
Judge Brian O’Callaghan disagreed, observing Fahy was a menace while also noting probation deemed her to be at high risk of reoffending.
Mr MacDonald conceded his client had been a common sight in the District Court across the hall over the years and was well known to Gardaí but all of her offences were linked to her alcohol problem and she was a nice lady when sober, he said.
“She did punch this young lady with a duck leg. If it wasn’t so serious it would be funny,” counsel said.
“She needs to smell the coffee at this stage of her life,” Judge O’Callaghan said before sentencing Fahy to two years in prison with the final six months suspended for two years for the first assault.
He directed she keep the peace for two years and come under the supervision the probation service for 18 months on her release from prison. She must also abstain from alcohol and drugs and undergo random toxicology screening as directed by the probation service.
The judge imposed a similar sentence on Fahy for the assault on Garda McDonnell, describing it as a particularly nasty assault. He took the remaining public order charges into account and directed Fahy was to get credit for time already served while on remand in prison awaiting sentence on these charges alone.
(Photo: The incident took place in An Sean Bhaile in Doughiska).
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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