‘Road rage’ victim is awarded €8,000
A MOTHER of five injured in a ‘road rage’ incident at a filling station was awarded €8,000 plus her costs against her assailant by Judge Gerard Haughton.
Aisling Nacey of Ballygow in Bannow sued Jimmy Nolan of Coolroe, Ballycullane, bringing photographs to court of her damaged hand.
The man she met at the service station in Wellingtonbridge on June 17, 2013 did not attend the court sitting at Ardcavan.
In his absence, supermarket worker Ms Nacey recalled how she had four of her children with her when she went to buy fuel for her vehicle on the day in question.
She said she drove towards one pump on the forecourt but found herself blocked off by Nolan, whom she described as Jimmy Nolan of Nolan’s Headstones.
She drove around him, telling him that he needed to have more manners as she did so, and continued on to another pump.
As she was filling up, she testified, the man came over and boxed the cover of the fuel cap which was driven by the blow into her hand.
He also dished out verbal abuse, asking her ‘who the f *** do you think you are?’ until a man who had been standing at the shop door intervened.
Ms Nacey said that her hand was bleeding and she was upset while the children were crying from inside the car.
She did not feel in a fit state to drive and was collected by her father in law who resides in Wellingtonbridge.
Further evidence of Nolan’s behaviour was provided to the District Court sitting at Ardcavan by Des Byrne.
He said he was on his way out of the shop that day when he met a friend at the door and stopped for a chat.
He told how he noticed Jimmy Nolan charge over to Ms Nacey’s car, closing his fist to hit the filler hood.
When the witness went over to assist, he found himself also being verbally abused, recalling that the language used was ‘ horrific’ and that the respondent wanted a fight.
‘ The man was just out of control,’ stated Byrne under oath as he described Nolan’s behaviour. ‘He abused me from a height.’
The plaintiff told how she did not sleep that night as she was in a state of shock and pain.
She went to her doctor the next day and was referred to the regional hospital in Waterford.
X-rays confirmed that, though she had sustained bruising to her hand, no bone had been broken.
She was fitted with a removable cast and was not allowed back to her job at Flood’s Centra for six weeks following the incident at the service station.
She testified that she remained afraid of Nolan almost four years later, and that she hid when she saw him recently at a car boot sale.
Judge Haughton granted the decree for €8,000 against Jimmy Nolan, adding orders to pay legal costs as well as €250 to cover the cost of a medical report.
He said that the sum was intended to reflect the degree of trauma suffered by Ms Nacey.
No claim was made for loss of earnings as the plaintiff ’s absence from work was covered by social welfare.