Man has assault conviction for spitting on neighbour overturned

By Fionnuala Walsh

A man who was convicted of assault for spitting on his neighbour from an upstairs window has had his conviction overturned on appeal.

The injured party said that the spitting was an “act of aggression” which shattered her sense of security.

Anthony Finnegan (46), with an address in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, had pleaded guilty in the District Court to assault contrary to section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

He was convicted and given a fine of €300, before later lodging an appeal against the severity of his sentence.

Garda Jordan Metcalfe told the District Court Appeals Court that on November 20th, 2023, the injured party attended at a garda station to report an incident.

He said the woman told gardaí that after she parked her car at an address on Station Road, Portmarnock, a man opened a bedroom window on the second floor of a house and spat in her direction.

Garda Metcalfe said the woman told them that the spit made contact with her leg and shoe.

Defence counsel for Mr Finnegan, Lydia Daly BL, said that her client and the injured party are neighbours and that there are ongoing issues between them.

She told the court that Mr Finnegan now has a restraining order against the injured party.

The injured party told the court in a victim impact statement that the “act of aggression” may seem minor but it greatly affected her.

The woman said that she had asthma attacks in the past and the incident gave her flashbacks to her time in hospital.

She said the incident “shattered” her sense of security and that she suffered from stress-related asthmatic flare ups.

The woman said that although Mr Finnegan said he was sorry, she believed this was not because of remorse but for convenience.

The woman said that the incident was a “violent and hateful act” that had “real consequences” for her.

Ms Daly said that her client is a father-of-three who has not come to garda attention since the incident and that a conviction for assault will have a significant impact on his life.

Counsel asked for the conviction itself to be removed from Mr Finnegan's record.

Judge Deirdre Browne told the injured party that the appeal does not undermine the wrongdoing accepted by Mr Finnegan, but relates to the consequences of the conviction for him.

She said that it was “certainly a nasty and very demeaning assault” to be subject to.

However, Judge Browne said that Mr Finnegan must get credit for his guilty plea and despite the “horrible thing” he did, he took responsibility from the start.

She said that in the circumstances that there is already an order for the parties to stay well away from each other, she hopes that they will learn to live separately and apart.

Judge Browne said that if the injured party chose to accept the sum of €500 as an expression of remorse, she would be willing to strike out Mr Finnegan’s conviction.

Ms Daly later confirmed that the payment was accepted by the injured party. On that basis, the judge allowed Mr Finnegan’s appeal and his conviction was removed.