District Judge tells Tyrone woman she ‘lost the run of herself’
A Cookstown woman was said to have taken "great dislike" to a police officer outside a public house, a court was told.
Forty-two-year-old Emma Woods, from Mawillian Road, admitted charges of assaulting the officer and disorderly behaviour arising out of an incident at Rainey Street, Magherafelt.
District Judge Peter Magill told the defendant she had drink taken and had "lost the run of yourself on that night”.
Prosecuting counsel told Magherafelt Magistrates Court on Wednesday that on July 21 last, at approximately 1.25am, police had received a report of a sexual assault in a bar in the town and were speaking to the defendant and her partner.
The lawyer said the defendant was intoxicated and took “great dislike” towards the police officer giving him a middle finger close to his face that caused him to move back. She shouted insults in front of members of the public and woke up people sleeping in nearby properties, said counsel.
The prosecutor said the defendant was cautioned for disorderly behaviour and assaulting the police officer.
Admitting the offences, a defence lawyer explained the defendant had been out for the evening with her partner.
She said she had recently had a baby and this had been the first evening out they had had since the birth.
Imposing a Conditional Discharge for 12 months, District Judge Magill remarked that the courts took a dim view of assaults on police officers.
He told the defendant that she may had been “in a bad way that night” but she should not have behaved in the way she had.
Mr Magill said he gave her credit for pleading guilty.