‘TERRIFIED’ | 

Hairdresser punched woman in head and pulled out her hair in row over Easter egg

The court heard Kavanagh had 15 previous convictions including several for assault, as well as criminal damage and theft.

Andrew Phelan

Yesterday at 17:18

A hairdresser attacked a woman in a homeless centre, sitting on top of her and pulling clumps of hair out of her head.

Shauna Kavanagh (35) set upon the victim during a confrontation in the kitchen when the woman accused her of stealing an Easter egg, a court heard.

Kavanagh also repeatedly punched the woman in the head in the assault, leaving her “terrified.”

Judge Michele Finan adjourned the case at Dublin District Court for a probation report and community service suitability assessment.

Kavanagh, of Holy Cross Avenue, Drumcondra, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman.

The court heard the incident happened at Novas Centre, Lower Rathmines Road on April 24 last year.

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The accused was previously referred to as transgender during a separate court case.

Garda Sergeant Derek Spain told the court the victim said she had been in the kitchen when the accused began staring at her. The victim walked over to the accused and said “why did you call me a knacker? You’ve been calling me a knacker all week. Why did you steal my Easter egg?”

“He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me around on the ground,” the victim had told gardai.

She said the accused pulled her across the ground, sat on top of her and punched her to the head four to five times with a closed fist.

Kavanagh also pulled clumps of hair out of her head and she said she was “terrified.”

The woman received medical attention and suffered bruising and pain but no other injuries.

The court heard Kavanagh had 15 previous convictions including several for assault, as well as criminal damage and theft.

The injured party did not make a victim impact statement.

Defence solicitor John Shanley said of the offence there had been a “build up over a period of time.” The accused had “another version of events” but she pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted she should not have acted in the manner she did, Mr Shanley said.

Kavanagh was very young when her mother was killed, which was a “significant loss” and the accused was brought up by an aunt until she finished school and went travelling.

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There was nowhere for her to go when she returned and she was forced into homelessness, Mr Shanley said.

Kavanagh did courses in hairdressing, makeup and personal training and got full time work but never had stable accommodation until recently.

She was “doing extremely well” before she went into custody and was now in Mountjoy Prison’s Dochas Centre, where she was under a very strict regime of 23 and a half hour lockup with no socialising.

Kavanagh had nobody coming to visit and was finding it very difficult, Mr Shanley said.

The court heard the accused had also completed an anger management course in custody.

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Judge Finan said the court had not heard “one word of remorse or about the victim, it was all about Ms Kavanagh.”

She said she wanted to see some demonstration of remorse in the probation report and told the accused “you can’t go around assaulting people.”

The case was adjourned to a date in August.