Shop assistants witnessed incident
Two employees of Dunne’s Store in Rushmere Shopping Centre gave evidence claiming that the victim had been grabbed by ‘the scruff of the neck’.
Sales assistant Geraldine Gaskin said that just after 10am she heard a raised voice and saw a lady with a wee girl. She had her by the scruff of the neck and was pushing her around to the till area.
She said the woman stopped and asked about tights. The girl had her head down and never lifted her head. “She looked totally deflated,” added the witness.
Mrs Gaskin said the woman grabbed the girl by the scruff of the neck and said to her ‘you should know better at your age’ in a nasty way. The child did not react.
The witness lost view of them until they came back to the till and she noticed the girl was from Ceara.
The second Dunne’s employee, Danielle Dolan, also gave evidence that she saw the lady holding the girl by the scruff of her neck and was pushing her along.
She said the woman told the girl she better start moving and the girl started to move very slowly. The lady then grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pushed her as hard as she could, saying ‘you better get out of my sight’.