A junior Government minister has told a court that she didn’t feel safe in a public space “with the people that elected me” when a bag of cow dung was thrown at her.
At Gort District Court sitting in Ennis, Galway East TD and Minister of State at the Dept of Health and at the Dept of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Anne Rabbitte wept tears in the witness box.
Minister Rabbitte told the court that she was “picked out” by Joseph Baldwin as she recounted the incident at a packed public meeting over a planned biogas plant for Gort at O’Sullivan’s Royal Hotel, Gort on January 4th, 2023.
“There was no safety. I didn’t feel safe in a public space with the people that elected me,” she said. “I felt I was the most vulnerable person in the room.
“I didn’t feel protected or feel safe there.”
Asked why she later went to the gardaí that night after the public meeting, Minister Rabbitte said: “There is a line and I felt it was crossed that night and no one spoke up for me and I had to speak up for myself that night.”
In the case, south Galway farmer, Joseph Baldwin (39) of Ballyaneen, Gort denies assaulting Anne Rabbitte on January 4th 2023 at the public meeting, contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Recounting the incident, Minister Rabbitte said that she saw a man had flung a bag of contents towards Galway East constituency colleague, Ciarán Cannon (FG).
CCTV footage played to the court this afternoon showed Mr Baldwin say “here is a bag of cow shite for you” before throwing the bag in the direction of Deputy Cannon. The bag fell at the feet of Deputy Cannon.
After witnessing Mr Baldwin throwing the bag towards Deputy Cannon, Minister Rabbitte told the court that she thought “Jesus. God help us. What is after happening to Ciarán? How will he recover from that one?”
The CCTV footage showed Mr Baldwin turn and then throw a bag in the direction of Minister Rabbitte. The court heard from an eyewitness that the bag contained “a green liquid substance”.
Minister Rabbitte said that the man “was incredibly angry, his face was red”.
She said: “The white of his eyes I won’t forget.”
Minister Rabbitte said that the man said to her “‘I am not forgetting about you, there is one for you Rabbitte’ and then he flung a bag as well.”
After the bag fell on the ground beside her, Minister Rabbitte said: “I didn’t know if the two legs were going to go from under me.”
“Someone picked it up and said that it was a bag of shit.”
“I wanted to scream my head off because no one said that what was happening was wrong.”
Solicitor for Mr Baldwin, Daragh Hassett said that eight eye witnesses from people who were present on the night who gave statements to the gardaí said that the bag thrown by Mr Baldwin did not hit Ms Rabbitte.
Mr Hassett said that Ms Rabbitte had recoiled from her statement to gardaí where she said that the bag hit her on the torso and now says she felt it hit her.
Mr Hassett told Minister Rabbitte after hearing her evidence “you are a very unreliable historian”. Mr Hassett described Minister Rabbitte’s direct evidence as “quite emotive”.
Mr Hassett said that her statement to gardaí that she was struck by the bag was “inaccurate and misleading” when seen alongside the CCTV evidence which shows that the bag did not hit her.
Mr Hassett said: “It is not assault.”
The case continues.
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