Teenage girl slashed woman's face with broken bottle in Temple Bar, court hears

Tom Tuite

A then 15-year-old girl scarred a woman’s face with a blow from a broken glass bottle in Dublin’s Temple Bar, a court has heard.

The girl, now 17, who cannot be identified because she is a minor, appeared before Judge Brendan Toale at the Dublin Children’s Court.

Garda Robert Kennedy charged her with assault causing harm to the woman (21) and a weapons offence for production of an article capable of causing serious injury, at Eustace Street, Dublin 2, on August 11th last year. The girl gave no reply when charged, the court heard.

Outlining the allegations, Garda Kennedy said the woman had been socialising in Temple Bar when she was approached by females asking for cigarettes. She told them she did not smoke and then there was a “verbal altercation”.

It escalated, and the girl allegedly tried to assault members of the woman’s group. One of them, a man, knocked the girl to the ground in self-defence.

The judge heard how a glass bottle fell out of the teenager’s bag and broke. Garda Kennedy said the teen picked it up and used it to cut the woman before others separated them. It resulted in a slight 1in scar on the side of her face.

The Director of Public Prosecutions recommended the case should be heard at the Children’s Court level.

However, the judge was furnished with a medical report on the woman. He said it was alleged the woman was approached by an unknown group and assaulted with a broken bottle.

Refusing jurisdiction, he held it was not a minor offence and should go forward to the Circuit Court, which has more severe sentencing options. The teen, accompanied to court by her mother and barrister, did not address the court and has not yet indicated how she will plead.

The judge remanded her on bail to appear again in October to be served with a book of evidence and returned for trial.