A woman who pulled clumps of hair from a prison officer's head has been sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Stephanie Martin (39) of Cnoc Na Greine, Granard, Co Longford, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm at the Dochas Centre in Mountjoy Prison on September 29th, 2021.
She has 22 previous convictions, including convictions for assault, production of an article, criminal damage, public order offences, theft and soliciting, all of which were issued in the District Court.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said, “The victim impact statement speaks to the profound effect this has had on the prison officer who has worked as a prison officer for over 20 years”.
Judge Crowe said the aggravating factor in this case was the assault on a prison officer in the course of her duty. She also noted the significant number of previous convictions.
The judge said “the threshold for a custodial sentence had been passed” and set a headline sentence of 18 months. After considering the mitigating factors of Martin’s early guilty plea, her apology and that she had not come to garda attention since this offence. She sentenced Martin to 12 months in prison.
The court heard that shortly after 4pm on the date in question, prison officers were bringing food to Martin, who was in a secure area of the prison. Martin was told to sit on the bed of her cell before the officers would enter. She initially complied but got up from the bed and began shouting. Martin eventually sat down, and two prison officers entered the cell.
The court heard that the injured party entered the cell carrying food for Martin who grabbed the food from her aggressively. She then got the prison officer in a headlock and began pulling her hair.
Garda Shane Darcy told Jennifer Jackson BL, prosecuting, that additional prison officers arrived at the scene, and a controlled manoeuvre was carried out to knock Martin to the floor. The prison officer landed on her shoulder with the accused still holding her by the hair.
The court heard the prison officer described the pain as being so bad that she might have blacked out. She was treated at the scene by a prison nurse and sent to the Mater Hospital for X-rays.
Gda Darcy said that Martin was cautioned and interviewed in December 2021. A file was then sent to the Department of Public Prosecutions. Images of the prison's head where her hair was pulled out were handed into the court.
A victim impact statement from the prison officer was handed into the court and read by the prosecuting counsel. It said, “I have been a prison officer for over 20 years”. Before the assault, the woman described herself as “outgoing” and “looking forward to the future”.
Following this “unprovoked attack,” the woman said she had “pain, sleepless nights, marking all over my body”. The woman suffers from extreme anxiety and was off work for one year after the assault.
The woman has transferred prisons since the assault and has had regular periods of feeling low and “not caring if I woke up the following day”.
Gda Darcy agreed with Simon Matthews, BL, defending, that his client looks healthier now than when she was first interviewed by gardaí.
The garda agreed with counsel that his client was in the Dochas female prison on a committal order at the time of the offence and was “borderline” fit to plea in this case.
Mr Matthews said his client is remorseful and wishes to apologise to the injured party in the case. He handed letters and reports to the court on behalf of his client, one of whom said she was no longer taking methadone and has been diagnosed with “bipolar disorder”.
Counsel said his client has had a “tough life”, but this does not excuse her actions. He noted that his client has issues with anger, which is clear to the court from her previous behaviour.
He said this was a very serious offence but noted his client had entered an early guilty plea and that she is in a much better place now than in the past and when this offence was committed. He said she is stable on medication and engaging with drug rehabilitation and therapy positively.
He asked the court to take into account that his client is a vulnerable person and for as much leniency as possible when sentencing.
