Longford District Court: Husband and wife charged with assault and theft

A husband and wife have appeared at Longford District Court for the assault of two women in their home, and the theft of a mobile phone.

Pamela and David Stafford, both with an address in Ardnacassa Avenue, Ballinalee Road, Longford, appeared at a sitting of Longford District Court last Wednesday before Judge Patricia Cronin, where a lengthy hearing took place.
The injured party, giving evidence in court last week, said she was at home on the night of February 18, 2022, when she heard banging on her door.

“I looked out the window and saw Pamela outside and her partner. I thought there was something wrong, it was so late,” she said.
“I opened the door and saw David’s face was covered in blood. I asked if they were okay and gestured to them to come in.”
She told the court that she and Ms Stafford sat on one couch in the living room, while Mr Stafford sat on the other. When asked what had happened, she said Mr Stafford told her he’d been in a fight.

“Pamela was sitting beside me and she started asking about a phone and accusing me of stealing a phone,” she said.
Mr Stafford, she said, was clicking a lighter she had for lighting the fire, and she began to feel afraid.
“Then Pamela grabbed me by my throat and punched me to the face. I froze. I was in shock,” the woman said, becoming emotional in the witness box.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening. I tried to get up and she pushed me back down. I hit my head. I saw out of the corner of my eye that David had left the room and was going upstairs. My housemate was upstairs in bed and all I could think about was her.

“I tried to get out of the room to see where he was going. I went to the door and Pamela slammed it closed. My finger got caught. I was trying to get my phone out of my pocket to call someone for help but she kept hitting me in the face.
“That went on for maybe 30 seconds, I can't remember exactly. It went on into the hallway and she was still holding me back. My housemate must have heard the noise downstairs, because she came down and started pleading with Pamela to stop, but she wouldn’t let go of me.

“I told my housemate to go upstairs and ring the guards,” she said, adding that Ms Stafford was still holding onto her, hitting her and pulling her hair, trying to get the phone off her.
The woman explained that her housemate was at the top of the stairs when Mr Stafford emerged from one of the rooms and grabbed her by the hair, making her scream.

“I think I ran outside. My neighbour had heard all the noise and he was there and I said ‘will you please ring the guards’. He didn’t respond or help me, he just said ‘there's a foreigner in there’, so I went back inside,” said the woman.
“Pamela hit me in the head and I was on the stairs. She went to grab the phone. David came down the stairs then and I gave up and let the phone go.

“Then they left and I locked the door. I could hear an argument with my neighbour outside. I went upstairs to see if my housemate was okay. I couldn’t get in the door. She was locked in and the door was broken.
“I was speaking through the door to her, but at that point, she was on the phone. I could hear her talking to the guards. I just sat outside her door.”

When asked about her relationship to the two accused, the injured party said she has known Mr and Mrs Stafford for a few years.
“I thought we were friends. We used to go walking our dogs together. I know Pamela a few years and David is her partner,” she said.
The second victim gave evidence of hearing a commotion downstairs and leaving her bedroom to see Ms Stafford attacking her housemate.
She said Mr Stafford came out of one of the rooms and grabbed her by the hair and “pulled me by my hair around the room”, and asked her for her phone.

“I ended up running upstairs and locking myself in my bedroom. He came running after me and was trying to get in the room,” she said.
“When he left, I couldn’t get out of my room, the door was broken and the lock was broken.”
David Stafford took to the stand, giving evidence that the first victim had been over at his house “taking drugs”, namely €200 of crack cocaine, but insisted he did not assault the woman’s housemate.

“She went home around 10.30pm or 11pm,” he said, adding that the woman had rang them at 5am to come over. He said there was no cut to his head and that the injured party was “telling lies”.
Inspector Paddy McGirl put it to Mr Stafford that, after taking €200 worth of crack cocaine that night, they were “still under the influence” at 5am when they went around to the woman’s house.
“I wasn’t,” Mr Stafford replied.

Inspector McGirl then put it to Mr Stafford that the second woman was “assaulted by a male she doesn’t know”.
“And that’s disgraceful,” said Mr Stafford, “but I put it to you that the neighbour did it because he has something against foreigners.”
Judge Cronin, having heard the evidence, said she was satisfied the prosecution had made their case. She adjourned sentencing to Thursday morning.
Mr Stafford, when being led from the courtroom, began shouting at the injured party, “see you, you rat, are you enjoying that after telling lies?”

The following morning, both co-accused reappeared before Judge Patricia Cronin.
In her victim impact statement, the first victim said she had to leave her house and now rents it out. She requires someone to accompany her if she needs to call over to deal with tenants.

“I felt very afraid of the consequences of going to court,” she said, adding that any time she was in Longford town, she “always locked the car door while driving” as she was “fearful” in case she ran into either Mr or Mrs Stafford.
The second woman, in her victim impact statement, said she suffered “severe headaches and neck pain” the next day and “removed clumps of hair from (her) head when showering”.

“As I did not feel safe staying in that house, I left that same morning and only returned once, and accompanied, to collect my things,” she said.
“During what happened, I felt a sense of panic that I had never experienced before and I suffered an anxiety attack while I was locked in my room.”

She referred to the incident as a “very traumatic experience”.
Judge Cronin, on Thursday morning, proceeded to convict and sentence Mr Stafford to five months in prison, to run concurrently to a sentence he is currently serving.
Ms Stafford is due to reappear on September 10, 2024, when a probation report will be furnished to the court.