Retired tradesman avoids jail for driving with Lidl manager on car bonnet after checkout row

A retired tradesman has avoided prison over an incident in a supermarket car park in Wicklow Town in which he drove a short distance with a store manager on the bonnet of his vehicle following a row at a checkout.
Thomas O'Connor, aged 67, of Two Mile House, Ballinteskin, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment over the incident at the Lidl supermarket on Rathnew Road, Co Wicklow, on July 3, 2023, contrary to Section 13 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
Garda James Downey told a sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court that there had been an issue between the store's assistant manager and the accused in relation to the payment for a small item.
CCTV footage played in court showed that the manager attempted to place a shopping trolley in front of O'Connor's vehicle in order to speak further with him as the accused was driving out of the car park.
Video images show the supermarket employee was briefly pushed onto the bonnet of the vehicle which was travelling at a slow speed before O'Connor drove away cutting inside a van coming into the car park on the wrong side as he made his exit.
Garda Downey said O'Connor was arrested in December 2023 and identified himself on the CCTV footage and accepted responsibility for his driving.
The court heard he told gardaí: 'What can I say? At least no-one was hurt. I was panicked.' O'Connor also added that he was 'deeply sorry.' Garda Downey confirmed to prosecution counsel, James Kelly BL, that the accused had no previous convictions.
Cross-examined by defence counsel, Edmund Sweetman BL, Garda Downey agreed that the incident arose from a dispute over what items were paid for.
The court heard there was an issue about whether the customer had given the cashier a €5 or €10 note which resulted in O'Connor leaving the store with two packs of hash browns and leaving another behind at the checkout.
Garda Downey said the accused had taken offence at being challenged by Lidl staff. Mr Kelly observed that O'Connor had 'left in high dudgeon and took off.'
Mr Sweetman said there was no justification for the defendant's 'most irrational behaviour'. Pleading for leniency, the barrister said O'Connor had a previously unblemished character and had recently retired from a career working as a plasterer.
He said the accused had brought €1,000 to court for his victim as an expression of his remorse.
Sentencing
Sentencing O'Connor to three months in prison, Judge Terence O'Sullivan said he would fully suspend the term of imprisonment for a period of six months on condition that he keep the peace for that period and not come to Garda attention.
The judge said the accused's driving was reckless and it was lucky that no harm had come to the Lidl manager.
He said O'Connor knew there was some sort of row with the supermarket's staff and there was no justification for endangering the store official, although the judge acknowledged the accused was assessed as being at a low risk of re-offending.
Judge O'Sullivan said he accepted that the defendant 'simply panicked in temper'. 'It was one of those occasions where the red mist descended when it shouldn't have,' the judge remarked.
Having heard that O'Connor lives in an area with poor public transport and has a wife with health issues, Judge O'Sullivan said he would not impose any driving disqualification on him.

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