Stephen Maguire
A man who viciously attacked a barwoman left her in fear again after calling to her home to apologise for the attack.
Tony Duggan, aged 25, attacked the woman at Teach Bhillie in Gortahork, Co Donegal on the afternoon of December 15th, 2019.
Duggan appeared at Falcarragh District Court where he pleaded guilty to the assault after he had downed four shots of Jameson whiskey.
The court was told that construction worker Duggan began to abuse other customers after entering the bar at 12.30pm.
He was asked to leave the premises by the barwoman and he left.
However, she came across the accused in the back porch of the bar. Duggan, of Meenlaragh, Gortahork, suddenly attacked the bar worker by punching her in the face resulting in her falling to the ground.
Two other people in the bar rushed to the woman's aid and restrained Duggan until his father arrived. The woman received injuries to her right eye and also to her knee following the horrific unprovoked assault.
His solicitor Patsy Gallagher said his client remembered nothing of the attack because he was so drunk. He added “He was deeply apologetic when he was told about the incident. He apologised to the owner and to the other man.
'No excuse'
"There was no excuse for his behaviour. He accepted that he did it, he is so embarrassed and sorry.
At an earlier sitting of the case, Mr Gallagher added that his client had €500 by way of compensation but Judge Paul Kelly told him that he would have to add the same again.
He had then asked for a victim impact statement from the woman.
Having read that, Judge Kelly wondered if there was "any more generosity towards this poor woman" and suggested the figure of another €1,000. Mr Gallagher said that could be arranged.
“To strike anyone, let alone a woman, in this way, was reprehensible,” Judge Kelly added.
The court was told that Duggan had arrived at the woman's house to apologise for his attack but that this has made her even more frightened as she didn't realise he knew where she lived.
However, Judge Kelly accepted that there was no malice in Duggan's visit to the woman's home.
He added: "This was a very unpleasant assault on a woman simply trying to do her job and she got a number of nasty injuries and was off work for some time."
He sentenced Duggan to three months in prison, but suspended the sentence for 12 months.
