Woman (44) fined £500 for assaulting boy

Nirvana McCrory, whose address was given on court papers as Hollymount Park denied a charge of assaulting the boy on October 5, 2012.

The boy, who is now 15-years-old, said that he had known McCrory for a few years and on the night in question she came up to him as he sat outside a chip shop at Top of the Hill.

He told the court McCrory accused him of spraying graffiti on her house and also of bullying her son.

The teen then said the 44-year-old woman slapped him in the face.

Under cross examination defence solicitor Derwin Harvey asked the teenager if he was aware of any feud or row between his family and the McCrory family, which had got worse after a bereavement in the boy’s family in February last year. However, the boy said he had no knowledge of this, telling the court, “not that I can think of.”

Giving evidence on her own behalf, McCrory claimed that since the beginning of 2012 her home had been subjected to attacks and this had got worse since the teenager’s relation was ‘executed’.

The 44-year-old was corrected by the District Judge Barney McElholm at this point and he told McCrory the deceased was murdered. McCrory added that on October 4, the night before she was accused of assaulting the boy, masked men had come to her house looking to ‘shoot my son’, who she described as a ‘republican’.

She further claimed it is ‘common knowledge in Derry’ there is a feud between her family and the boy’s family.

However, she denied that she had assaulted the teenager or that she had even seen him on the night in question. She claimed the teenager was making the claim up as ‘part of a conspiracy’ against her family.

Convicting McCrory, District Judge Barney McElholm said there was clearly ‘bad blood’ between the boy’s family and people ‘who support those’ involved in the murder. He added he did not believe the teenager is involved in this feud and is ‘quite worried about the whole thing.’

The judge said he did not ‘believe a word’ of McCrory’s denials and fined her £500.