Man (24) who dragged visually impaired child away from her mother to be sentenced
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Stephan Obelngoa (24) of Deerpark Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, assault of a peace officer and resisting arrest at The Square, Tallaght. Dublin, on October 2nd, 2023.
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He has six previous convictions and was on bail at the time of this offence.
Garda Sergeant
Gemma Collins told Shaun Smyth, BL, prosecuting, that an 11-year-old girl, her mother and little brother were leaving the shopping centre on the day in question when they noticed a man later identified as Obelngoa.
He was topless, and the mother described his movements as 'unnerving' and said he seemed 'aggressive'.
The court heard the mother intended to walk on and avoid Obelngoa, but she suddenly noticed that her daughter had disappeared from her peripheral vision.
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The woman turned around and saw her visually impaired daughter being dragged away by Obelngoa. The little girl was screaming, crying and struggling to get away.
The mother described her daughter as 'bouncing off the ground'. Obelngoa then threw the girl into a concession stand.
Gda Sgt Collins said two security guards immediately subdued Obelngoa. When gardaí arrived, they found Obelngoa was shouting, roaring and aggressive as he was being restrained.
He then spat a mixture of blood and saliva into the face of one of the gardaí. As gardaí were trying to place handcuffs on Obelngoa, he tried to bite them.
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Specialist gardaí interviewed the young girl, and she described to them 'being dragged like a doll and being dragged on the floor'. She said, 'I thought he was going to drag me away forever and would kidnap me'.
The girl was examined the following day by a doctor, and a medical report stated she suffered minor spinal soft tissue tenderness and abrasions. The court heard the young girl had trouble sleeping and was extremely anxious in public places like shopping centres afterwards.
Gda Sgt Collins agreed with Ciara Ní Ghabhann, BL, defending, that gardaí were unable to interview her client after he was arrested, as he was made an involuntary patient in Tallaght Hospital, where he remained for a period of time.
The garda agreed with counsel that CCTV footage obtained by the gardaí shows that the incident lasted a matter of seconds.
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Ms Ní Ghabhann said her client suffers from schizophrenia and is given antipsychotic medication every three months. She said at the time of this incident, Obelngoa had been off his medications for six months and was self-medicating with cannabis.
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Counsel said her client is currently under the supervision of the Probation Services and has undertaken community response programmes. The Probation Services have said he is at low risk of reoffending.
She said Obelngoa has written letters of apology to both the garda and the young girl in this case, outlining his sincere remorse. He does not have a clear memory of the incident, but when shown the CCTV footage, he was embarrassed.
She asked the court to take into account that her client was quite young and had an acute mental health issue when this offence was committed. She said her client has taken steps to ensure that nothing like this will ever happen again.
Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain said, 'these are very serious offences,' and adjourned this matter for two weeks to consider her sentences and read all documents handed into the court.
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