A young mother was jailed for six months on Wednesday (October 1 ) after pleading guilty to stealing toys, punching a man and obstructing justice by allegedly swallowing drugs in the Garda station.
The Athlone District Court was told how Emma Quinn (21 ), of Hillside House, Bower View, Athlone was arrested in Irishtown in possession of €378 worth of toys taken from Toy City the day after last Christmas. All property was recovered.
The court also heard that, on September 22, 2007 at 1.40am, the defendant struck a man, Mr Eamon Wykes, in the face whilst he was outside a nightclub on Sean Costello Street having a cigarette.
“What was the reason for this attack?” asked Judge Aeneas McCarthy.
According to defending solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn, there had been a “verbal altercation” between the victim and his partner in the nightclub and he had gone out for a cigarettte but was not then re-admitted.
Words were exchanged outside with the defendant and she punched him in the face. This encouraged a third party to join the fracas and escalate it, leaving the victim with a black eye, the court heard.
“She accepts she instigated it but did not expect it to escalate into something more serious,” said Mr Quinn.
The court was then told how the defendant was encountered by gardai on the street at around 3:30am on January 16 last where she was “nervous and agitated”.
“She went rooting in her handbag and threw two bits of tin foil on the ground,” said Inspector Paul Cuttle for the prosecution.
“At the station she pulled an item from her bra and swallowed it. It was believed to have been a bit of heroin”.
As Quinn had pleaded guilty her previous convictions were read to the court. These were a suspended sentence for burglary in November 2004, the Probation Act for theft in January 2007 and another suspended sentence for theft in June this year.
“Unfortunately, she’s no stranger to the court,” said her solicitor.
“She has a two-year-old son and a chronic history of drugs and substance abuse.
“To be fair, she has made efforts before while serving custodial sentences attending Dochas.
”She has even consented to extra custody to seek help.
She has very difficult personal circumstances and once again her own mother will have to look after her son”.
Judge McCarthy sentenced Quinn to six months on the assault charge, with a further six months for the theft and three months for the obstruction charges to run concurrently.
He also ordered the defendant to take whatever treatment she required whilst in custody.
