A “neighbour from hell” caught on CCTV attacking a woman by pulling out her hair has avoided a jail term.
Belinda Daly (60) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of assault causing harm to her neighbour in the front garden of her home on Windmill Avenue in Crumlin, Dublin, on February 28th, 2021.
The court heard there was a long-standing disagreement between the neighbours over a minor falling-out between other members of their families.
In CCTV footage taken from Daly’s home on the day in question, she can be seen reaching over the garden wall and grabbing her neighbour’s hair.
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Daly has no previous convictions, prosecuting barrister Marc Thompson told the court.
In a victim-impact statement, read out previously, the injured party told the court Daly was “a neighbour from hell”.
“Even today, I’m still terrified, afraid of being attacked again,” she said, adding that she had frequent thoughts of “the evil unleashed on me.”
The woman suffered alopecia of the scalp, with hair loss extending to seven centimetres across her head due to “the ferocity of the attack”, her GP wrote in a letter to the court.
She has to have regular nerve-blocking injections to her neck and is on daily pain medication, the court heard. She suffers frequent migraines, has post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and intermittent nose bleeds.
Defence counsel Brian Storan said his client regrets and takes full responsibility for her behaviour.
The court heard Daly had two adult children and a grandchild. She has spent time working in domestic violence shelters.
Defence counsel said Daly was struggling with anxiety issues related to her work at the time of the assault.
Sentencing Daly on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said there was clearly a long history between the parties with “a lot of bad blood”. This was a very significant outbreak of violence, and, no matter what was going on, nothing justified Daly’s shameful behaviour.
The judge said Daly had “lain in wait” for her neighbour, and the level of force used was noteworthy.
She noted the parties were no longer neighbours, as the victim’s house went on the market before the assault.
Judge Crowe imposed a sentence of two years but suspended it in full for three years.
The judge ordered Daly not to have contact with her former neighbour.
