A "savage and unprovoked" assault on a woman by a bouncer in a public house has led to a call for legislation governing the selection, training and hire of security staff.
When the Circuit Court president, Mr Justice Smyth, heard yesterday of the "inhuman" treatment of Ms Anne Dempsey, he said the sooner strict public safety standards regarding bouncers were legislated for the better.
Mr Justice Smyth heard how Ms Dempsey (28) had been picked on by the bouncer in a packed public house, Out On the Liffey, at Ormond Quay, Dublin, and had been accused of blocking the aisle.
Ms Dempsey, Artane, Dublin, told her counsel, Ms Samantha Cruess Callaghan, that the bouncer, David Kinsella, who has since died, locked her right arm behind her back, caught her by the belt of her trousers and lifted her out of the pub. "He punched me twice, splitting my lip and knocking me down. He sat on top of me and punched me again. The next thing I remember is sitting in the pub kitchen with an ice pack on my face," she said.
She said the pub manager said they could sort the matter without calling the gardaí and offered her £200 and her taxi fare to hospital. She reported the matter to the gardaí and identified the bouncer.
Ms Áine O'Mahony said she saw Kinsella sit astride Ms Dempsey and punch her in the face. She had tried to pull him off but he was too big and too strong.
Mr Declan Buckley, counsel for the pub owners, Bere Taverns Ltd, sought a dismissal on the basis that Kinsella had been an employee of a security company which had since gone out of business and which had not been sued.
Mr Justice Smyth, awarding Ms Dempsey €8,790 damages, said the pub manager must have known something dreadful had happened when he offered her money and in doing so had accepted liability.