Man with 86 convictions punched window and showered driver with glass in ‘thuggish’ airport attack

Dominic John McGoldrick, 33, of Drumawill Gardens, Enniskillen, was at Antrim Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Ballymena on Tuesday, for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to charges of assault; criminal damage to a Translink bus window and being disorderly at the airport on March 2.

A prosecutor said police were called at 8pm after receiving a report from the airport control centre about a man at the front of the terminal who had punched a window of a bus.

The bus driver told police McGoldrick boarded and after a short conversation had smashed the window of a door into the driver’s compartment and then left.

The driver pointed out the defendant and police arrested McGoldrick who made full admissions and expressed remorse.

The court heard it cost more than £600 to repair the damage.

The prosecutor said the driver was “showered” with glass but was not injured. The assault charge related to the bus driver being put in fear.

The court heard McGoldrick had 86 previous convictions including 17 for criminal damage and was in breach of a suspended prison term.

A defence lawyer said the bus driver told McGoldrick he wasn’t getting on the bus because he had taken alcohol and he “reacted in that drunken, thuggish, manner”.

He said it was a “gross aberration” as the defendant had been doing well on probation for a previous offence.

McGoldrick had bail fixed for appeal in the sum of £500.