No jail for hairdresser who pulled clumps of hair in attack on homeless woman

Shauna Kavanagh, 35, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman and received a three-month suspended sentence

Shauna Kavanagh got a three-month sentence, suspended as long as she kept the peace and did not re-offend for two years. Picture: Paddy Cummins

A hairdresser who repeatedly punched and tore clumps of hair from a homeless woman's head in a Dublin shelter has avoided jail.

Shauna Kavanagh, 35, of Holycross Avenue, Drumcondra, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman at the Novas Centre, Rathmines Road, on April 24, 2022, and received a three-month suspended sentence.

Dublin District Court heard the injured party told gardaí they were in the kitchen and the defendant was “staring at her”. The victim approached the defendant and asked: “Why did you call me a knacker? You called me a knacker all week. Why did you steal my Easter egg?”.

In her statement, she said Kavanagh “grabbed her by the hair” and added that Kavanagh pulled her onto the ground and struck her with a closed fist four or five times. The court heard she told gardaí Kavanagh sat on top of her and “pulled clumps of hair out of me”.

She received some medical attention and had a painful left shoulder afterwards. The accused made the admission after the incident.

Kavanagh already had 15 prior criminal convictions since 2009, including one for assault causing harm, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence in 2021 on the conditions of keeping the peace and not re-offending for the following 12 months.

The victim, still homeless, was left “terrified” after the incident and did not come to the hearing.

Kavanagh’s other offences were minor assault, criminal damage, public order, traffic and theft-related. The accused was already serving sentences imposed in the District Court in March and May, due to expire this month.

Kavanagh is serving sentences in the Dochas Centre, the women’s section of Mountjoy Prison and on 23-hour lock-up with no socialising and has a “very strict regime” and no visits.

'Build-up'

Defence solicitor John Shanley said there had been a “build-up over a period of time", and Kavanagh had a different version but accepted “she acted in a manner she should never have”.

Due to the death of the accused’s mother, Kavanagh lived with an aunt and trained as a hairdresser. But the court heard Kavanagh travelled but ended up homeless on returning to Dublin.

Mr Shanley said his client worked full time and, since the assault, had received stable accommodation through the homeless services. The solicitor said Kavanagh had completed anger management and psychological courses in custody and was “doing very well”.

However, Judge Finan told the defence solicitor: “There was not one word of remorse here, nothing about the victim, all about the accused” after the court heard the prosecution evidence.

Following an adjournment pending the preparation of a probation report, Judge Finan imposed a three-month sentence, suspended as long as the accused kept the peace and did not re-offend for two years.