RETAIL RAGE | 

Mum (32) ‘lost it’ and headbutted shopper in Lidl after queue skipping row

Hannah McErlean (32) said she did not realise she was skipping the queue and she “just lost it” in “a moment of madness”.

Today at 08:13

A hairdresser headbutted a shopper in the face after a row about skipping a queue, a court has heard.

Hannah McErlean (32) left the other woman with a bleeding and broken nose following the supermarket assault.

She was “at the end of her tether”, having gone through the Covid-19 pandemic with her partner and three children, one of whom has complex special needs.

Judge John O’Leary ordered McErlean to pay €500 to the victim and fined her €500.

The defendant, of Liffey Dale, Liffey Valley Park in Lucan, admitted seriously assaulting another woman at Lidl in Clondalkin.

Garda Aishling Halligan told Blanchardstown District Court she received a phone call around 7pm on June 27, 2021, from a manager in Lidl saying a woman had been assaulted and was on her way to hospital.

The victim stepped in, and waved McErlean on, and she was headbutted in the face.

Gda Halligan said the defendant then arrived into the station, saying she had “lost it in the queue and headbutted” another shopper.

Gda Halligan said McErlean had bruising to her forehead.

The injured party later told gardaí there had been an argument between her friend and the defendant about skipping a queue.

The victim stepped in, and waved McErlean on, and she was headbutted in the face.

She suffered a broken nose, and was off work for a week.

Lawyer Ciaran MacLoughlin said this incident took place at the height of Covid, when tensions were fraught.

Mr MacLoughlin said McErlean did not realise she was skipping the queue and she “just lost it” in “a moment of madness”.

She was very sorry, and had immediately gone to the garda station and admitted her behaviour.

Mr MacLoughlin said McErlean, a hairdresser, had three children.

One of her children was non-verbal and had complex special needs, and McErlean found Covid difficult, as everyone was at home, and many of the professional services for her child were not available.