Woman guilty of Tramore amusements knife assault

A young woman and her uncle recently stood trial at Waterford Circuit Court before Judge Eugene O’Kelly.

Helen Meagher (27), of Old Callan Road, Kilkenny, and her uncle Mark O’Grady (50), of Bath Street, Waterford City, were accused of assaulting members of staff at the amusements park in Tramore, Co Waterford.

The incident was alleged to have occurred on June 23, 2022.

That afternoon, Ms Meagher, a third party, their children and her uncle were in Tramore. The jury were told Ms Meagher and the third party were refused entry into the park as staff alleged that they had witnessed the pair drinking earlier in the day.

At around 4pm, two of the children ran into the park from the Strand Road entrance.

Mr O’Grady was allowed enter to retrieve them, but the two women entered against the orders of security personnel.

Stanley knife

An argument broke out during which it was alleged Ms Meagher pulled out a Stanley knife from a child’s buggy and slashed the manager of the park on the neck and chest. The man incurred a superficial wound to his face and holes to his shirt, which was presented in court to the jury.

The manager alleged that the defendant shouted racist abuse at both him and the security guard, calling them a ‘Scottish c**t’ and ‘black c**t’.

In his cross examination of the manager, defence counsel for Ms Meagher, Garreth Hayden BL, asked the witness if the derogatory term ‘k****er’ was used against the defendants. The witness denied the use of the term.

The court heard from witnesses that were involved in the alleged incident and members of the Gardaí who dealt with the accused following her arrest.

One of the injured members of staff and manager of the amusement park, Michael Garland, confirmed to the court that it was he was in the images that were shown of a man with an open wound on his neck, which he alleged were caused by Ms Meagher. He gave a detailed account during the showing of CCTV footage, that Ms Meagher pulled a blade from her handbag, that was resting on a young child’s buggy, and attacked him.

As further witnesses were questioned, details of how the incident allegedly unfolded were given to the jury.

The defence council put it to the next witness, Mr Chulata, who was working as a security guard at the park on the day of the incident, that it was only after he refused Ms Meagher and her sister entry from the park that they became aggressive towards him.

The sisters’ young children had run ahead of the adults into the park. Mr Chulata said he was instructed to refuse the family entry as they were suspected of having consumed alcohol.

The jury heard Mr O’Grady was given permission to enter the park by Mr Chulata as he appeared to be “calm” and asked that the two women wait outside the grounds.

The court also heard that it was when Mr O’Grady returned that he noticed the situation had become heated between Mr Chulata and the two women.

Mr Chulata was asked by the defence if he had training in combat sports, such as kickboxing or MMA, which he denied.

Mr Chulata told the jury that he had to complete a two-week course to train as security personnel and added that in his training he was taught to deal with women and men differently, by initially trying to deescalate a situation by talking, and should it come to a point where he must protect himself, more force was allowable for men than women, as women should only be “pushed”.

Mr Chulata was asked by the defence if he pushed Ms Meagher, which caused her to fall. He accepted this.

“We are trained in talking and pushing, we are not allowed to fight,” he told the court, adding that Ms Meagher was being verbally and physically abusive towards him at this point.

The language allegedly used by Ms Meagher, according to Mr Chulata, included racial slurs such as “black c**t". However, this was not mentioned in Mr Chulata’s statement to Gardaí and in his response to the defence, he told them he was “more focused on what happened with the knife”.

He also denied using the word “knackers” during the exchange.

Mr Chulata alleged Mr O’Grady punched him in the neck, but this also wasn’t in his statement to Gardaí. During the altercation that continued outside the park, Mr Chulata alleged Mr O’Grady told those present that his hand was slashed by him, however, that information was not included in Mr Chulata’s statement.

As the family moved outside the park, the Meagher sisters were seen to be rummaging around the buggy and handbags. It was alleged the third person there with the two accused took out a bottle of perfume and threw it at staff. The perfume bottle was presented in court as evidence. It was shortly after that the third person with the accused took the four young children away from the scene.

Knife injury

It was alleged that Helen Meagher had found a blade in her bag, and started swinging it at staff members, making contact with them a number of times, including causing the cut to Mr Garland’s neck. That resulted him taking a trip to Caredoc that evening for treatment.

Another staff member in the witness box, Mr Gillane, said he was returning from his lunch when he involved himself in the situation in an effort “to secure” the matter as he had “obviously gotten a fright” when he understood what was happening.

It was said Ms Meagher was brought to the ground by staff and then the blade was removed from her hand by a Mr Smith, who was a member of staff at the amusement park in Tramore for almost 30 years.

His attempts to calm the situation were commended by the defence council representing Mr O’Grady. Mr Smith outlined to the jury that Helen Meagher was a regular customer for approximately 10 years and that he “knows her to see”.

The jury was told that was not in Mr Smith’s statement to Gardaí.

“They were always polite to me when they were down over the summers, and that’s how you remember someone,” said Mr Smith.

Wild and unreasonable

In his statement to Gardaí, as read out to the court, he said the women were “wild and unreasonable” and when staff “used reasonable force, they became worse”. 

When Garda McCarthy was sworn in, she told the court that she was the member in charge at the time Ms Meagher was arrested. The jury heard Ms Meagher had disclosed to Gda McCarthy that she suffered from anxiety and epilepsy, while a cut was observed by the Garda on Ms Meagher’s neck. She was told that happened a week previous.

Shortly after 5pm that evening, Gda McCarthy checked on Ms Meagher. Gda McCarthy was asked to confirm to the court by the defence that she found Ms Meagher as she “tried to strangle herself using her bra strap”. 

Gda McCarthy also told the court that in her assessment she noted Ms Meagher did not consume drugs but she had consumed alcohol and there was a cut to her neck from the week before but there were no other injuries.

While Ms Meagher didn’t give evidence in the trial, her co-accused Mr O’Grady, did take to the stand. He told the jury that on the date of the alleged offence he was with his niece and a third person, and their children. He said his niece and the third person were refused entry to the park but the children ran in and he asked if he could go in and get them.

“They were going near the roller coaster and I asked Mr Chulata could I go in and he let me,” said Mr O’Grady.

“I went to the side of the roller coaster and got one of them in each hand and turned around,” he added.

He said he could see there was something going on between his niece, the third party and Mr Chulata.

“At that stage I didn’t realise there was going to be trouble and I stood between them,” he said.

He said he “could see they were being violent towards my niece” and told the jury Ms Meagher was “hit a couple of times”.

“I was shocked and just wanted to get the kids out,” he said.

“I stood between them and said ‘I can get her out”, and I had the kids as well,” he added.

In response to questions put to him by his defence counsel, Sarah-Jane Comerford BL, Mr O’Grady said he was shocked by what was going on and “just wanted to get the kids out of there”. 

He said he had gone to the amusement park all his life and never had any trouble there. 

In video footage shown to the jury Mr O’Grady was seen to have taken off his jacket during the incident and when asked by Ms Comerford why he did that, he replied: “I was warm and I took off my coat.”

When asked if he took it off because he was “getting ready to fight”, he replied: “No, at no point was I wanting to fight anybody.” 

He also denied ever threatening any of the staff members, saying: “I never once assaulted anyone."

He said there was violence inflicted “on the girls” and described what happened as “inappropriate”.

When asked how he felt when he saw that, he replied: “I couldn’t believe what was happening.” 

However, with regard to his own actions he said: “At no time did I feel I was going to be violent towards anyone.”

“I never assaulted any of the bouncers,” he said. “I never once retaliated to any of the bouncers."

In cross-examination by Mr O’Doherty, he was asked if he noticed his niece and the third party were intoxicated and in response said: “They would never say in front of me if they had been drinking. I don’t drink and I would not approve of them drinking with the kids.” 

“I asked them had they been drinking and they said ‘no’,” he said.

Video footage

The jury was then shown video footage again, which showed the two children who had run to what Mr O’Grady described as a roller coaster, returning from it to the entrance by themselves.

When asked to confirm it was the children, Mr O’Grady did so. Referring to video footage shown to the jury, Mr O’Doherty said it appeared to show Ms Meagher leaving the children at the roller coaster and walking over and hitting Mr Chulata from behind.

“It’s clear that Helen Meagher left the children at the waltzer, or roller coaster as you describe it, and then goes behind Mr Chulata and strikes him from behind,” said Mr O’Doherty.

While acknowledging that was what the footage “appeared to show”, Mr O’Grady said he didn’t remember that happening.

Mr O’Doherty also pointed out that on the footage it was the third party who “was being aggressive with the bouncer”, to which Mr O’Grady replied: “I accept that is what it shows.” He went on to comment: “I am not here today to lie to you or the jury. It’s affected my mental health; my mental health has been destroyed.” 

Mr O’Doherty said in his closing argument, that it was “was a particularly violent incident”.

He asked the jury to consider that Mr. O’Grady had given a number of contradictory answers during cross-examination.

Referring to Helen Meagher, Mr. O’Doherty labelled her alleged behavior as “feral” and “absolutely shocking” and with regard to her allegedly using a knife during the incident, he said: “I can’t think of a more dangerous act, not only having it on your person, but being prepared to use it.” 

He also told the jury that the group involved in the incident were “volatile” and were “behaving in a reprehensible way”.

In her closing Ms Comerford said her client, Mr O'Grady, didn’t retaliate against park staff and that he was “flustered and shocked” during the incident.

“Mr. O’Grady is not condoning the behavior of his niece [and the third party], but he is here to tell you how he reacted,” she said.

She then asked the jury: “Does Mr. O’Grady fight or does he protect?”, before saying her client was in “a situation not of his making and out of his control”.

Meanwhile, Mr Hayden in his closing asked the jury to take the evidence provided by manager of the park, Michael Garland, with a “degree of skepticism”.

He also said Mr. Chulata’s behavior “from start to finish” served to escalate the situation, and that he was “deliberately targeting these women, picking them off one by one”.

Regarding the racial abuse, Mr. Hayden asked the jury to consider contradictory witness evidence, saying that almost every witness had a different version of the terms which were allegedly used.

Ms Meagher was found guilty of a Section 2 assault charge, but not guilty of violent disorder. She will be sentenced in October 2024.

Mr O'Grady was found not guilty on the two charges.