Athy woman alleged to have spat in garda's face

A WOMAN who spat in a garda’s face in a "despicable act" had a bench warrant issued for her arrest this week after she failed to turn up in court.

The defendant Danielle Murphy (32), who has an address at Block B, The Harbour, Nelson Street, Athy, was due to appear before Judge Desmond Zaidan to answer this charge of assault.

He heard how she was being detained on other matters in Newbridge Garda Station on the afternoon of 13 July 2023 when she spat in the officer’s face.

Sergeant Dave Hanrahan revealed that Ms Murphy had 21 previous convictions and handed a victim impact statement to the judge, from which he read exerts.

'This assault affected me in more ways than I could count,' she wrote.

'I had to have multiple drug tests and I was supposed to be going on holiday four days later to Australia.

'It was despicable and degrading because she was a habitual drug user.

'The impact has been far-reaching. I was out of work for a number of days and I had to stay away from friends and family.'

With no appearance forthcoming, the judge was left with the simplest of options and instantly issued the bench warrant for her arrest.

This was the second time in less than a week that this particular garda was the injured party in an assault case, albeit with a different defendant.