Man who dragged a visually impaired child away from her mother given suspended sentence

By Claire Henry

A man who dragged a visually impaired child away from her mother has been given a suspended sentence.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Stephan Obelngoa (24) of Deerpark Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, assault of a peace officer and resisting arrest at The Square, Tallaght. Dublin, on October 2, 2023.

He has six previous convictions and was on bail at the time of this offence.

Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain handed down a one year prison sentence but suspended it in full on strict conditions.

Obelngoa was suffering from a mental illness at the time and had not been taking his medication, the court heard.

Garda Sergeant Gemma Collins told Shaun Smyth, BL, prosecuting, that an 11-year-old girl, her mother and little brother were leaving the shopping centre on the day in question when they noticed a man later identified as Obelngoa.

He was topless, and the mother described his movements as “unnerving” and said he seemed “aggressive”.

The court heard the mother intended to walk on and avoid Obelngoa, but she suddenly noticed that her daughter had disappeared from her peripheral vision.

The woman turned around and saw her visually impaired daughter being dragged away by Obelngoa.

The little girl was screaming, crying and struggling to get away.

The mother described her daughter as “bouncing off the ground”.

Obelngoa then threw the girl into a concession stand.

Gda Sgt Collins said two security guards immediately subdued Obelngoa.

When gardai arrived, they found Obelngoa was shouting, roaring and aggressive as he was being restrained.

He then spat a mixture of blood and saliva into the face of one of the gardai. As gardai were trying to place handcuffs on Obelngoa, he tried to bite them.

Specialist gardai interviewed the young girl, and she described to them “being dragged like a doll and being dragged on the floor”.

She said, “I thought he was going to drag me away forever and would kidnap me”.

The girl was examined the following day by a doctor, and a medical report stated she suffered minor spinal soft tissue tenderness and abrasions.

The court heard the young girl had trouble sleeping and was extremely anxious in public places like shopping centres afterwards.

Gda Sgt Collins agreed with Ciara Ní Ghabhann BL, defending, that gardaí were unable to interview her client after he was arrested, as he was made an involuntary patient in Tallaght Hospital, where he remained for a period of time.

The garda agreed with counsel that CCTV footage obtained by the gardai shows that the incident lasted a matter of seconds.

Ms Ní Ghabhann said her client suffers from schizophrenia and is given antipsychotic medication every three months.

She said at the time of this incident, Obelngoa had been off his medications for six months and was self-medicating with cannabis.

Counsel said her client is currently under the supervision of the Probation Services and has undertaken community response programmes.

The Probation Services have said he is at low risk of reoffending.

She said Obelngoa has written letters of apology to both the garda and the young girl in this case, outlining his sincere remorse.

He does not have a clear memory of the incident, but when shown the CCTV footage, he was embarrassed.

She asked the court to take into account that her client was quite young and had an acute mental health issue when this offence was committed.

She said her client has taken steps to ensure that nothing like this will ever happen again.

At a hearing last month Judge Ni Chulachain said, “these are very serious offences,” and adjourned the case for two weeks to consider her sentences and read all documents handed into court.

In sentencing the judge noted that the injured party was walking past him with her mother when he threw her into a concession stand and had to be pepper sprayed.

The judge asked Sgt Collins to explain to the injured party “that we can’t punish people for things that aren’t their own fault” and that “if he takes his medication – he’s never going to come near her again.”

“It must be very strange to her that he is not going into prison,” the judge added.

She said the onus was on the defence to establish their client was suffering from a mental illness and that she was satisfied they had done so.

She noted he was unmedicated for six months and was displaying his genitalia in public while in hospital.

Judge Ni Chulachain noted his mental state at the time but said it “does not reduce all your culpability,” she said.

She said the appropriate sentence was 18 months but she had to take account of his guilty plea which saved the injured party giving evidence at her young age.

The judge noted he was 24 and was in college but dropped out and was on bail for six offences but there was a “positive” probation report and he was at low risk of reoffending if he continued on the same path.

She imposed one-year imprisonment term to run concurrently on each of the assault charges but in view of the effect prison would have on him, she suspended it for two years on strict conditions.