A WOMAN who deliberately coughed in the face of an elderly man in a supermarket and threatened to infect him with Covid-19 was sentenced to three months in prison at a recent sitting of Clonakilty District Court.
The court heard that on September 17th 2020 Alana O’Driscoll (25) from Dunmanway went to the Aldi supermarket on Main Street in Dunmanway to buy alcohol.
At the time of the incident face mask regulations were in place, due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Ms O’Driscoll who was not wearing a face mask was asked to do so by an elderly customer at the check-out.
When asked, Ms O’Driscoll became abusive towards the customer and deliberately coughed in his face and threatened to give him Covid-19. She was escorted from the premises by the store manager and also became abusive towards him and coughed in his face as well.
Ms O’Driscoll was subsequently arrested based on CCTV evidence, and charged with threatening and abusive behaviour. The court was told that she refused to co-operate with the investigation.
Defence solicitor Flor Murphy said that Ms O’Driscoll had a difficult upbringing and wished to apologise for her behaviour. He said that she had been doing quite well recently but at the time of the incident she had lost her job due to the Covid-19 restrictions and was also on anti-depressants.
He said that after waking up the following morning she realised what she had done and returned to the supermarket and apologised to the manager.
He said that she has continued to shop there since with no problems.
He added that she is the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old son and had completed a business course at college and had been accepted onto a culinary arts course due to commence next year.
The court heard that Alana O’Driscoll had 15 previous convictions, including for public order and assault – the most recent being in February 2023 for driving without insurance.
Judge James McNulty convicted her for each assault and sentenced her to three months in prison. She was given bail on her own bond of €100 to appeal the sentence.
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