Man who kicked pregnant nurse in back sent to prison

A man who kicked a pregnant nurse in the back and exposed himself to her colleague in a busy A&E was jailed for four months yesterday.
Craigavon Hospital - Picture Gavan Caldwell
see story Philip BradfieldCraigavon Hospital - Picture Gavan Caldwell
see story Philip Bradfield
Craigavon Hospital - Picture Gavan Caldwell see story Philip Bradfield

District Judge Bernie Kelly described 27-year-old Christopher McDaid’s behaviour as “despicable and obscene”.

“To attack a woman who was eight months pregnant is obscene and made all the more obscene when you realise her role was as a medical practitioner, there to provide medical assistance to you because of the state that you voluntarily got yourself into,” the judge told McDaid.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

At an earlier hearing McDaid, from Dill Avenue in Lurgan, pleaded guilty to 12 charges arising from three different incidents on February 14, March 17 and April 6.

Amongst the offences are two counts of disorderly behaviour, two of resisting police, two of assaulting police, obstructing police, exposure, common assault, failing to provide a specimen of breath and two of causing criminal damage at Craigavon Area Hospital.

A prosecuting lawyer told the court that on April 6, police called to a Lurgan bar and when they tried to arrest McDaid for a breach of bail, he “became aggressive” and spat at police.

On St. Valentine’s Day, police received a report of a drunk driver on Charles Street in Lurgan and when they arrived at the scene, found McDaid “unsteady on his feet, shouting and swearing” with the keys to the car in his pocket.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Footage from a nearby bar showed McDaid driving the car but he refused to give a breath sample.

The most serious incident arose on St. Patrick’s Day when police took McDaid to Craigavon Hospital.

The lawyer described how a nurse who was eight months pregnant walked past McDaid to take his blood pressure when he “kicked her in the back”.

“She challenged him about his behaviour and he replied ‘I don’t give a f***’,” he told the court, adding that another nurse took McDaid to the triage area.

Once there however “he urinated around the room”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Judge Kelly also disqualified McDaid from driving for 15 months and fined him £150.

She told McDaid that had she been allowed to, “I would’ve imposed a three-year restraining order barring you from going anywhere near Craigavon Area Hospital.”