Woman threw coat at garda after being ‘triggered’ by treatment of homeless man

Kathy Kennedy (23) began removing items of clothing when she was escorted out of the station and threw her coat into a garda’s face.

Judge Bryan Smyth applied the Probation Act, leaving her without a criminal record after she made a €200 charity donation.

Kennedy, of Cromlech Fields, Ballybrack, pleaded guilty to threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and failing to follow garda directions.

Dublin District Court heard on January 31 this year she went to the public office of Store Street garda station, where she began screaming and shouting. She pointed her finger towards a garda’s face and called him names.

While she was being escorted out, Kennedy began to “remove items of clothing” and continued to scream and shout, the court heard. When told to move on, she ran towards the plaza in front of the station and threw her coat at the garda, which struck him in the face.

She was arrested. Kennedy had no previous convictions. At the time, Kennedy was in homeless accommodation and on anxiety medication, which she mixed with alcohol. She accepted this was a “stupid mistake,” her lawyer said.

Kennedy saw a homeless man being thrown out into the rain and “given her homeless situation, it triggered something in her,” the lawyer said.