A teenager who banged on the door of a taxi and then assaulted the driver during an argument with his girlfriend was ordered to pay compensation at Galway District Court this week.
Nineteen-year-old Peter McCarthy with an address at 27 Gaelcarrig Park, Newcastle, pleaded guilty last Monday to assault and criminal damage at Eyre Square on October 11, 2008.
Inspector Sean Glynn told the court that at 11pm the injured party, a taxi driver, had parked his vehicle at Eyre Square while a woman got in. Suddenly the defendant started banging on the door and demanded to be let in.
When the taxi driver got out to stop any further damage the woman also exited the vehicle, walked away with the defendant, and they began arguing. The taxi driver then approached the couple at Rosemary Avenue to find out what was happening and he was struck in the face by the defendant.
The inspector said that McCarthy’s behaviour was so out of control that his own family struggled to restrain him when they arrived at the scene. The damage to the passenger door of the taxi had been €500.
Defence solicitor Olivia Traynor said that her client had €500 with him in court to offer as compensation for the criminal damage. She said that McCarthy had just been 18 at the time of the offence and had been arguing with his girlfriend after consuming a lot of alcohol.
“He was confused, he opened the door and banged it,” said Ms Traynor who added that the girlfriend phoned the defendant’s father to get him to come into town and control his son.
“This is most serious. The taxi driver was assaulted for doing nothing except trying to find out what happened. Because it was a female passenger he felt obliged to check,” said Judge Mary Fahy who then ordered the defendant to come with extra compensation for the assualt.
Judge Fahy remanded the defendant on continuing bail to July 27, 2009, for €500 to be paid.
