Woman acquitted of using threatening language at store manager
The incident at Next department store in Castlebar led to a criminal prosecution for an alleged public order offence.
A Castlebar woman has been acquitted of a public order offence arising out of an incident in a shop.
Ellen McDonagh, 129 Chestnut Grove, Castlebar pleaded not guilty at the local district court to using threatening or abusive language at Next department store in Castlebar on September 4, 2021.
Store manager Mary Mulligan told the court there were Perspex screens in the shop at the time to prevent the spread of Covid-19. She observed Ms McDonagh and another woman not wearing a mask and not standing behind the Perspex screens. She asked them to move in front of the screens but they "refused".
Ms Mulligan alleged that the defendant raised her voice. The witness said she felt embarrassed to have a voice raised at her because it drew the attention of her fellow staff members and other customers. She contacted the Gardaí about the incident.
During cross-examination, defending solicitor Cathy McDarby said her client was in the shop with her aunt Winnie McDonagh purchasing pinafores at the till when she overheard Ms Mulligan remarking to another staff member that there were "a lot of empty hangers" in the shop that day. Ms McDarby said Ms Mulligan "looked pointedly" at Ms McDonagh and her aunt when she said this. Ms Mulligan said she may have commented about keeping the shelves in the store stocked as this was her duty as store manager.
Ms McDarby said Ms Mulligan’s embarrassment did not mean that her client had committed a criminal offence.
In response, Gda Insp Maria Hayes said there was "clear evidence" that Ms Mulligan felt threatened by Ms McDonagh raising her voice.
Ms McDonagh told the court she felt this remark about the empty hangers was directed at her and her aunt because they were members of the Travelling community. She said she told Ms Mulligan: "Excuse me, you don’t have to be so discriminating, you have plenty of CCTV in this shop."
The defendant claimed that Ms Mulligan then asked her to leave the shop. When Ms McDonagh said she would not leave as she did not do anything wrong, Ms Mulligan told her she was going to call the Gardaí.
Ms McDonagh said she was not wearing a mask at the time and did see Perspex screens in the shop but did not recall Ms Mulligan asking her to move behind any screen and added that she would not have had an issue doing so had she been asked.
She denied raising her voice and said she felt she could "not have been more polite" to Ms Mulligan.
Dismissing the case, Judge Fiona Lydon said she felt "the ingredients for the offence" were not proven.
