A young woman, jailed last week for two years for her part in a street attack in which another woman's hair was set alight, has been freed pending the outcome of her appeal against the length of her sentence.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday granted Antoinette Geoghegan (19), Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, bail pending her appeal against severity of the sentence.
Geoghegan was part of a group of three women who attacked Rhona Brady, who was on crutches, in O'Connell Street, Dublin, on October 17th, 2003. Ms Brady's hair was set alight but quickly extinguished. However, she was then pulled to the ground by her hair.
When passing sentence in the Circuit Criminal Court last week, Judge Donagh McDonagh said the attack was "appalling behaviour of the worst kind" and the women had acted like "mad dogs".
Geoghegan and two others had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Ms Brady and were jailed for two years each.
When applying for bail yesterday, Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, counsel for Geoghegan, said her client had had a baby since the O'Connell Street incident. She said Geoghegan was on the periphery of the attack and had only one previous conviction. The ringleader, who set the victim's hair alight, had 72 previous convictions.
Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said Geoghegan had not come to the attention of gardaí since the attack and had concentrated on looking after her child. Geoghegan had also been a heavy drinker at the time of the attack.
Mr Justice Brian McCracken, presiding, said it was an extremely serious assault. However, there was a huge disparity between the records of the accused in the case.