Enniskillen Court House, RMGFH04
A 51-YEAR-OLD ENNISKILLEN WOMAN who racially abused a Polish bar employee in an alcohol fuelled incident involving her husband and son has been given a 12 month probation order.
Patrica Duffy, of Drumbawn Close, Drumclay, was further ordered to pay £300 to the injured party, whom she also assaulted. Mrs Duffy and her husband, 56-year-old Thomas Duffy were both convicted at Enniskillen Magistrates Court in relation to an incident in the early hours after Mother’s Day on March 16, 2015. Mr Duffy was convicted of two counts of disorderly behaviour, one of which was on licensed premises, with Mrs Duffy convicted of a further charge of common assault.
The prosecutor outlined that at 12.30am on Monday March 16 police on mobile patrol in the Darling Street area of Enniskillen were flagged down by door staff at the Devenish Bar. Three people were on the road including the two defendants. Both Mr and Mrs Duffy were swearing and shouting at door staff. Police spoke with the door staff who explained that they had ejected the defendants’ son from the premises. The pair then immediately became aggressive and abusive to door staff, one member of staff in particular, who was a Polish national.
The injured party attended the police station later and made allegations that inside the premises Mrs Duffy was verbally abusive towards him regarding his nationality. CCTV footage from the bar and the body cameras worn by the door staff were seized. The footage clearly showed abuse being hurled at the victim due to his nationality by Mrs Duffy. The matter was treated by the prosecution service as a ‘hate crime’. Mr Duffy is also seen in the footage shouting and swearing at the injured party.
Defence barrister Stephen Mooney told the court that the incident took place on Mother’s Day and their son had taken them out for the day. He said “too much drink was taken by everybody” and their son was ejected for “misbehaving”.
District judge Nigel Broderick said “clearly alcohol was a major feature” in the incident when sentencing the defendants. First dealing with Thomas Duffy the judge described the offences at the “higher end” of disorderly behaviour and noted “quite a lot of aggression”.
Mr Broderick imposed a 12 month probation order with the added condition he must attend any alcohol or drug counselling of treatment programme recommended by the probation service.
The judge told Mrs Duffy her case was more serious due to the racist comments made to the injured party and said her behaviour was “not acceptable” and labelled it a “nasty racist insult”. Noting her limited record and accepting a downturn in her health as a factor he imposed the compensation and same 12 month probation order issued to Mr Duffy, with the added condition she engage with any programmes recommended by her probation officer.
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