Killyleagh woman is not guilty of assault

Killyleagh woman is not guilty of assault

25 July 2012

A KILLYLEAGH woman has been cleared of committing a frenzied attack on a woman outside a bar.

Shonagh Nelson (25), of Kerry Park, had been accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Charlotte Martin outside the Inter-national Bar on November 27 last year.

Ms. Martin, who was left with extensive bruising, said Ms. Nelson launched an unprovoked attack on her and chased her around several cars, before landing on top of her.

At Downpatrick District Court on Monday, she said she was kicked and punched several times, which left bruising to her face, head, wrist and back.

The woman’s 60 year-old brother, who was with her at the time of the assault, said he remembered the defendant standing with a group of men beside them and feeling “uncomfortable” just before the attack.

He described the assault as “wild” and said she ran after his sister “like a Jack Russell after a rat”.

Both said the assailant had distinctive short spiky red hair.

Ms. Nelson admitted she was at the bar on the night in question, and matched the hair and clothes deion given to police. She also admitted her partner had a southern accent as recalled by the witnesses.

She said, however, that she was definitely not guilty of the assault.

“I do not know this woman from Adam,” she said. “I have never seen her before in my life.”

Referring to the fact she ran a hairdressing business in Killyleagh, she said: “I cannot afford to be fighting in the town when I own a business in it.”

A defence barrister said it was a case of mistaken identity. He questioned the injured party on her statement, which suggested she had identified Ms. Nelson from her hair salon.

The woman then acknowledged that the reference to her working in a hairdressers came from a neighbour to whom she had described her assailant.

As a result the barrister said an official identification procedure should have been carried out by police and that a failure to do so made the case unsafe.

Deputy District Judge Mr. Terence Dunlop said there was circumstantial evidence linking Ms. Nelson to the assault but said he could not be sure beyond reasonable doubt.

He added that he was “not imputing any wrong motive” with regards the injured party’s statement to police.