'I'm just so horrified': Pharmacist describes attack on staff member by anti-mask customer

Pharmacist Victoria Jones, owner of Bonnybrook Pharmacy in Coolock, Dublin.

A young female pharmacy worker was attacked by a man who refused to wear a mask, leaving her bruised and unable to continue working.

The attack was described as horrifying by the pharmacy owner who said a senior manager had to intervene to protect the young staff member.

Victoria Jones, owner and pharmacist at Bonnybrook Pharmacy in Dublin, said the man walked into the pharmacy on Thursday without a mask.

When he was asked to put on a mask or accept a free mask from staff, he started to verbally abuse the young woman working at the till. 

He then punched the Perspex screen hanging over the till a number of times until it swung over the counter and hit her in the face.

“I’m just so horrified,” said Ms Jones after the incident. 

He could have knocked her out. It is a heavy Perspex screen, he punched at it and it is very hard and heavy. It went onto her face, she has a big bruise on her face.

She said when a female manager emerged from the rear of the pharmacy and asked him to leave, he said to her: “What are you going to do about it little girl?” before finally leaving.

The staff member, a local woman who is just 21 and studying at Trinity College Dublin, was badly bruised and had to be taken home afterwards, Ms Jones said.

“It was frightening, it’s like it was not real,” she added.

The pharmacy has a policy of not refusing to serve anyone, instead, they offer free masks to people who come in without the required protection. 

If a customer insists on not wearing a mask, they are asked to wait by the open door to receive their medication.

“People are normally obliging, we have never had to refuse to serve someone,” she said. 

“Most people are not aggressive.” 

Bonnybrook Pharmacy is in a residential area of Coolock on Dublin’s northside and provides a vital service for locals. They deliver medication to cancer patients attending the nearby Beaumont Hospital.

Bonnybrook Pharmacy, Coolock Dublin.

“We have a lot of older, frail people who come in. Thank God some of them were not there when this was happening,” she said.

One woman was waiting on her vaccination appointment, but there were no other customers at the time.

Gardaí from Coolock Garda Station attended the scene, and Ms Jones said she has shared CCTV footage with them which clearly shows the man’s actions.

Pharmacies were classed as an essential service during the lockdowns and remained open.

The Irish Pharmacy Union’s annual crime survey, published in July, found 65% of all pharmacies were victims of crime over the previous twelve months.