By David O’Sullivan and Natasha Reid
A woman who assaulted a 63-year-old woman coming home from work has been jailed for two and half years.
Leanne Kelly (32), of no fixed abode appeared before Judge Pauline Codd in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the hospital worker outside the Mater Hospital on April 28, 2022.
Garda Devin Morrison told the court that the injured woman had finished work and was on her way to collect her bicycle when she saw Kelly.
The woman said Kelly caught her eye because she was wearing what she thought at the time was a bikini top, but was later revealed to be a bra.
She saw Kelly weaving and staggering in her direction. The woman thought Kelly was either drunk or under the influence.
As she walked past, Kelly shouted to her: “What the fuck are you looking at? You slapper. You slag.”
Kelly punched the woman on the side of her head. The woman fell onto the road from the force of the blow and her sunglasses were knocked off of her head.
A group of men approached her and asked her if she was okay. The woman called her partner and they went to Mountjoy Garda Station.
Gardai were able to identify Kelly by the description provided. She had been arrested in the vicinity on public order grounds.
While at the garda station, the injured woman realised she was bleeding. She attended the Mater Hospital, where bruising to her jaw and the back of her head was treated. She was kept overnight for observation.
In a victim impact statement handed in to the court, the woman said she now feels much more vulnerable when walking alone.
She said she has no desire to go into Dublin for solo shopping trips and described “feeling vulnerable at this stage in her life.”
Keith Spencer BL, defending, said Kelly was “heavily intoxicated” at the time of the assault. He said she has “absolutely no memory” of what happened.
He said Kelly had “an extremely difficult, deprived and traumatic upbringing” and “was born into a family where both her parents were alcoholics.”
Mr Spencer said Kelly has been smoking cannabis since the age of 14 and was introduced to heroin at 18.
He said Kelly wanted “to offer an unconditional apology” and that “she is ashamed that she ever put herself in that position.”
Kelly has 64 previous convictions, including for assault causing harm, production of an article, robbery, theft and public order. She was previously sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with the final six months suspended in 2017.
Defence counsel handed in psychological and probation reports.
“The full picture from the psychological report is bleak,” he said. “She was living in a tent, stealing alcohol, selling some of it.” He said Kelly was now engaging with an addiction team, and would not be homeless if released.
“Her mother is going to take her back into her house because she’s not abusing alcohol,” he said.
Judge Pauline Codd described the crime as “a totally and utterly unprovoked assault on an innocent passer-by”.
She noted that the woman had been knocked out onto the road.
“But for the fact that the traffic lights were red, there might have been more serious injuries,” she said.
However, the judge noted that Kelly had “entrenched addiction issues”, had suffered deep-routed trauma and had been through a lot in her life.
“She seems intent on dealing with those matters,” the judge said.
She imposed a sentence of three and a half years, but suspended the final year on a number of conditions ‘to acknowledge the steps she has taken’.
Kelly wiped away tears before thanking the judge.