Cranberries star Dolores is ‘ too ill to face air rage trial’
Daily Express Thursday September 3 2015 ROCK star Dolores O’Riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries, is “under medical care” while she awaits trial over an alleged air- rage incident, a court heard yesterday.
She faces three charges of assault and one of willful obstruction of police after being arrested at Shannon Airport, Ireland, in November.
When her case came before Ennis District Court yesterday Bill O’Donnell, defending, said the singer and songwriter was unable to attend for medical reasons. “My client is presently receiving ongoing medical treatment and presently she’s receiving residential treatment, hence her absence from court,” he said.
Mr O’Donnell said 43- yearold O’Riordan would benefit from a delay.
Judge Patrick Durcan adjourned the hearing until December 16.
O’Riordan, of Kilmallock, Co Limerick, has yet to enter a plea. The alleged incident began in the business section of an Aer Lingus flight from New York’s JFK Airport shortly before it came in to land in Shannon.
She is accused of assaulting an air stewardess and then a police officer who was called to the scene after the plane had landed.
Mother- of- three O’Riordan’s arrest came shortly after the breakdown of her 20- year marriage to Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran, the group that made stars of Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes. The couple divided their time between homes in Ireland and a log cabin in Ontario, Canada, before the split.
She has said that her faith as a Roman Catholic helped her cope with the break- up.
O’Riordan became the lead singer of The Cranberries at the age of 18. The band, founded in Limerick in 1989, became one of the biggest acts of the 1990s selling tens of millions of records with hits like Linger, Zombie and Dreams.
She went solo in 2004 rejoined the band in 2009.
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