Woman (42) answered door with knife in hand

A 42-year-old woman who answered a late night knock on her door with a knife in her hand and then lunged at a man with it was fined €300 at Sligo District Court.

Lorna Cooney of Lower New Street admitted a charge of engaging in threatening abusive behaviour and with possessing a knife on December 18th 2016. An assault charge on a Chris Chan was struck out.

The court heard that the defendant had answered a knock to her door by a woman who has mistaken it for her own house. She lived nearby and was with her boyfriend at the time, a Chinese national.

The defendant lunged at him with a knife and racially abused him.

Inspector Donal Sweeney said a couple had knocked at 5 Lower New Street by mistake at 12.32am.

The defendant answered the door and she got angry with them and called Mr Chan names. She had a knife in her hand and she charged at him.

He stepped back and left the scene and then contacted Gardai.

When interviewed subsequently by Gardaí the defendant admitted that she had been drinking and to verbally abusing Mr Chan.

She stated that she had a butter knife in her possession but this was disputed by Mr Chan who said it was a different knife with a blade of about ten inches.

Mr Tom MacSharry, solicitor (defending) pleaded that the defendant, who had studied fitness and leisure previously but was now not in a job, fully regretted what she had done and in particular the racial slurs she had used. She had overreacted, he said.

The single mother, who lived on her own, had previously been the subject of public order incidents in the area and on one occasion had her windows put in.

Cooney didn’t have any previous convictions.

In reply to queries from Judge Kevin Kilrane about the knife and whether it had been seized, Inspector Sweeney said it had been surrendered to the investigating Garda Joe Evans and when it was shown to the victim he said that hadn’t been the knife the defendant had on the night and that it had a ten inch blade.

The inspector read from Mr Chan’s statement in which he said he had been out with his girlfriend and was walking her back to where she lived at Lower New Street. She accidentially knocked on the wrong door.

A woman came out and asked if they had been banging on her door and stated that she had two kids asleep. She was aggressive and had a knife.

The victim said he opened his jacket to show her that he wasn’t armed and he told her there was no need for a knife. She charged at him with the knife and he retreated.

Mr Chan told Garda Evans that he had been really scared and thought that he was going to be stabbed. He also recounted how he had been racially abused.

He had told the defendant that he was going to ring the Gardaí and she told him to call them, that she didn’t “give a f ***.”

“It was terrifying and I felt my life wasthreatened,” said Mr Chan.

Mr MacSharry pleaded that the defendant was most apologetic and was prepared to write letters of apology to the couple.

He said the defendant had no intention to cause the couple any real harm.

He told the Judge that the defendant was single and did not have any children.

Cooney told the court she had met friends was out that night.

She consumed three or four drinks before returning home.

There was a knock on the door and in reply to Judge Kilrane who asked what the cause of her reaction she stated that she honestly didn’t know herself.

“It’s out of character for me,” she said. About two to three years previously a bottom front windown had been broken. There were also always people drinking in a nearby alleyway and there was banging on doors.

Judge Kilrane said the defendant had acted in a completely disporportionate way to what was going on.

He stated that he was satisfied that the knife she had used was a far more dangerous than a butter one.

He believed she had armed herself with the knife probably to scare.

“It was outrageous and unwarranted,” said Judge Kilrane.

He said he was noting the undertaking given by the defendant to write to the couple and he wanted these letters sent through Mr MacSharry.

The Judge added that this country had a lot of foreign nationals living here, many of whom were very hardworking and it was completely wrong for them to be racially abused. He struck out the knife possession charge, convicting the defendant on the other public order charge.