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Hairdresser accused of headbutting shopper in supermarket queue
February 23 2022 08:24 AM
A hairdresser headbutted a woman in the face in a supermarket checkout queue, it is alleged.
Mother of three Hannah McErlean (32) is accused of hitting the shopper, leaving her with a bloody nose in the alleged incident in a west Dublin store.
Ms McErlean has not yet entered a plea and Judge Gerard Jones adjourned the case at Blanchardstown District Court.
The accused, with an address at Liffey Dale, Liffey Valley Park, Lucan, is charged with assaulting the woman, causing her harm.
Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan told the court the incident was alleged to have happened at Lidl, Fonthill Road Retail Park, Clondalkin last June 27.
She said gardai received a call from the store manager and were told a woman had headbutted another woman in the queue.
When they arrived at the store, the alleged victim was at the scene waiting for an ambulance.
The woman was bleeding from her nose following the alleged assault and was treated at Tallaght Hospital, the court heard.
Sgt Callaghan said shortly after the incident the accused called a garda station to say she had headbutted someone in Lidl and wanted to make a statement.
Sgt Callaghan said Ms McErlean then came to the garda station and made a voluntary statement and admitted headbutting the woman.
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Sgt Callaghan said the DPP consented to the case being dealt with in the district court subject to the judge considering the issue of jurisdiction.
There was no medical report available, she said, but the judge accepted jurisdiction after hearing the outline of the prosecution’s case.
The accused’s barrister, Ciaran MacLoughlin, applied for free legal aid on behalf of Ms McErlean, who was not present in court.
He said she was working as a hairdresser but had several loans that she was repaying among her outgoings.
The judge granted legal aid after a statement of the accused’s financial means was handed in.
The charge against Ms McErlean is under Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
She was remanded on continuing bail in her absence to a date in April.
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