Teen pleads guilty to unprovoked attack on girl
By Brendan Grehan
A TEENAGER (19) punched and kicked to the head another teenage girl in an unprovoked attack in Clondalkin and then continued to torment her victim, Blanchardstown District Court has heard, reports Brendan Grehan.
Despite writing Nichole Griffin a letter of apology, Judge David McHugh heard that Charmaine Craig verbally abused Ms Griffin in the street calling her her “a slut”, “a smelly rat” and threatening that she would end up “in a bloodbath”.
Ms Griffin had written a victim impact statement and it was read out in court.
Craig, aged 19, with an address at Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, had pleaded guilty to assaulting Ms Griffin causing her harm at SuperValu,Neilstown Road, Clondalkin, on July 5, 2017.
The case was before Judge David McHugh for a plea in mitigation and for sentencing.
Sergeant John Paul Cushen said that at approximately 8.30pm on July 5, 2017, he responded to a call to go to SuperValu where Craig had assaulted another female by punching and kicking her a number of times to her head and body.
Sgt Cushen said statements were later taken and added that Craig later wrote a letter of apology to the victim.
He said Craig had no previous convictions.
Judge McHugh said that he had earlier examined a medical report and photographs of the victims injuries and he had read her victim impact statement.
Craig’s solicitor, John Shanley, put it to Sgt Cushen that the incident was over a relationship with another party that is now over.
Judge McHugh said he had the benefit of reading the victim impact statement. He said it was a public document and that it should be read out in court.
He asked the Sgt to read out the statement.
Ms Griffin in her statement said that she had been assaulted for no reason and that her “world had been turned upside down since then”.
The court heard that she now suffers from anxiety and had failed her first year college exams as a result of her anxiety. She said that she couldn’t go anywhere without her parents.
She also has to attend counselling twice a month which costs €150 a session out of her own pocket.
She wrote that one day she was out in Clondalkin and Craig saw and called her “a slut”, “a smelly rat” and threatened her that she would end up “in a bloodbath”.
She wrote that one day she was outside Nando’s in Liffey Valley and “Charmaine drove by in her black Audi A1 and shouted that I was a smelly rat and that I would get what was coming to me”.
Judge McHugh told Mr Shanley that his client had pleaded guilty and that “the adversarial element of the case is now over”.
He added: “The facts are that this was a very vicious assault on the injured party and that the statement suggests that your client continued to torment the injured party after the incident.”
Mr Shanley said the victim impact statement mentioned incidents since the assault that he had not taken instructions on from his client.
He said that he and his client had not seen the statement.
Craig is on free legal aid, the court heard.
Judge McHugh remanded Craig on continuing bail to a date in December for a presentence report and sentencing.
