A KILDARE LEAVING Certificate student assaulted in a ‘horrendous’ incident while babysitting has been praised by a judge for her courage.
Patrick Coady (27) , of Patrician Avenue in Naas, appeared before Naas District Court over two days this week facing charges of assault causing harm to the babysitter of his three children on 2 January 2015. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The victim, who was 16 at the time and is now 18, outlined in her evidence on Wednesday how she had been asked by Coady’s partner to mind the children. She told the court how she had never met the accused until the assault, when she claimed that he struck her with a metal bar and threatened to put a bullet through her head.
The events of the night
Speaking through tears, the teenager told the court how she was babysitting at the house in Lacken View in Naas when she heard a ‘big argument’ coming from outside the house.
She described how the mother of the children burst through the door with ‘blood on her clothes’.
The victim said she spoke to the woman and then proceeded to sit in front of the door, which she said was not locked.
Coady managed to force his way inside through the door, the teenager said. She told the court that he hit her with a metal bar and told her he would come back to put a bullet through her head.
In court, she said that she FaceTimed a neighbour and friend at the time of the incident.
Giving evidence, Garda Patrick O’Donnell described the scene at the house when he arrived at 1.20am.
He said:
I saw blood on the roadway. There was blood on the front of the house. There was blood on the hallway [and] the kitchen was dishevelled. The cabinet press was hanging on a hinge.
Garda O’Donnell said that the teenager was ‘visibly upset’, was ‘shaking’ and had a ‘large wound in the centre of her forehead.’
‘Traumatic incident’
Defence solicitor Tony Hanahoe put it to the victim that Coady did not push his way inside and did not enter the house.
Under cross-examination, the defence put it to Garda O’Donnell that there was no visible damage to the door and that this would be corroborated in court by two brothers who lived next door to the scene of the alleged assault.
Garda O’Donnell said: “I saw the damage, there was red blood on a white door.”
Defence argued that there was no medical evidence of the assault causing harm and that the victim had struggled to remember details of the incident, and called for the case to be struck out.
At this point Inspector Oliver Henry said:” She was 16 years of age at the time, it is not unreasonable to see that she would forget some of it given that it was such a traumatic incident.”
In court, Coady outlined how he was not residing in the house in Lacken View at the time and did not have a key. He claimed that he had an argument with his partner on the night and followed her to Lacken View, but did not gain entry.
In court, two neighbours gave evidence claiming that on the night there was no damage to the front door and that they did not see swelling on the victim’s head. They both agreed, however, that she was ‘shook up.’
Defence, in its summary, argued that the ‘whole case is riddled with inconsistencies.’
Courage
Judge Desmond Zaidan said he had ‘no doubts’ that the victim was telling the truth.
He commended her for her courage.
In a victim impact statement, she told how the incident had caused her to suffer from severe depression and anxiety.
She said:
After the assault, I was scared to leave the house for a few months. I had to go to counselling for severe depression. When I am leaving my estate, I see him a lot, it makes me remember everything.
Inspector Oliver Henry told the court how Coady had 23 previous convictions, including three years in prison for extortion and blackmail, along with a previous for an assault causing harm.
Judge Zaidan said: “This is a particularly nasty incident. The weight of the evidence is so compelling.”
The judge imposed the maximum 12 months prison sentence.
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