A woman has been charged over an attack on a teenage boy left permanently scarred after being “slashed” with a blade from his ear to the back of his neck on a double-decker bus in Dublin.
Sonia Connolly (37) who has accommodation in a hotel on Exchequer Street, Temple Bar, Dublin, is accused of violent disorder on May 18th last year.
She allegedly provided an eyebrow blade used by a second attacker to cut the 16-year-old boy.
The woman appeared before Judge David McHugh at Dublin District Court on Saturday after gardai received instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
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Detective Garda Keith Morrissey told the judge that the woman “had nothing to say” to the charge. The DPP has directed trial on indictment in the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.
Ms Connolly, who has yet to indicate a plea, did not address the court, which heard objections to her bail due to the seriousness of the case.
Detective Garda Morrissey alleged that two males and two females, including the accused, boarded a number 16 bus and went upstairs. The injured party got on later in south Dublin.
The contested bail hearing was told that an argument broke out among Ms Connolly’s group, and one of the men left them and “shouted back at the three remaining members”.
The injured party, sitting near the front, “made eye contact” with the man, and there was a brief verbal exchange before a “fight broke out”.
A second male from the group joined the first, and it was claimed the pair attacked the boy with punches.
It was alleged Ms Connolly made her way from the back of the bus to the two males and handed the first male an eyebrow blade, which he used to slash the back of the teen’s neck for 20 centimetres from the left earlobe to the centre of the back of the neck”.
The court heard the blade “broke in two pieces during the assault”.
It was claimed the accused held the teen’s head and got blood on her hand. The male was left holding the blade handle when they got off.
But the accused allegedly re-boarded, “went upstairs and retrieved the blade” and left again.
The injured party received 25 stitches. The detective handed into court photos of the boy’s injuries.
Cross-examined by defence solicitor John Quinn, the detective accepted the accused had health problems and had been in hospital recently. The court heard she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and had recently obtained secure accommodation.
Mr Quinn said his presumed innocent client would abide by bail terms.
Judge McHugh said Ms Connolly was accused of a serious offence but enjoyed the presumption of innocence and would get bail with strict conditions.
He ordered her to provide her phone number to gardaí and remain contactable, sign on daily at a garda station and reside at her current address.
The judge set her bond at €150 and ordered her to return to the same District Court on March 15.
At that hearing, she will be served with the prosecution’s book of evidence and returned to the higher court for trial. Legal aid was granted.
Two other men are already before the courts on connected charges.
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