'Absolutely atrocious': man who assaulted McDonald's worker sees jail term replaced on appeal
A man who assaulted a McDonald’s staff member in a dispute over a drink, forcing her to leave her job after what a judge called “absolutely atrocious behaviour”, has had his jail term replaced with a probation bond on appeal.
The worker told the District Court Appeals Court today that she is “constantly looking over her shoulder” after the incident.
The court heard that Nathan Roche (23) was verbally abusive to the McDonald’s employee in Dundrum Town Centre after losing his temper over a drink.
Roche, with an address in Walkinstown, Dublin, was convicted in the District Court of assault contrary to section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 and was sentenced to four months in custody.
He was also convicted of criminal damage to the injured party’s Levi’s spectacles, worth €200, and of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place. For each of these he was sentenced to two-month consecutive jail terms, totalling eight months in custody for this incident.
He later lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence.
At a previous hearing, Garda Barry McGlynn told the court that on May 30, 2022, he met the injured party and reviewed CCTV from McDonald’s in Dundrum Centre.
He said that Roche approached the counter and there was a dispute with a staff member over his drink.
Garda McGlynn said that Roche threw the drink at the woman’s face and knocked her glasses to the ground. The witness said that Roche was also verbally abusive to the woman.
Garda McGlynn said that Roche was identified on CCTV and that he has 24 previous convictions.
Defence counsel for the Roche, Asma Saleh BL, said that her client was very young at the time and has a low risk of reoffending.
She said that due to personal circumstances, her client “spiralled in a very bad way” and that the incident was a result of drug use at the time.
Ms Saleh said that Roche has the support of family who are keeping “an extremely tight eye” on him. She said that he is extremely remorseful for his actions and is now drug free.
Ms Saleh said that on the day Roche “got triggered” when he shouldn’t have and she asked the judge to suspend his prison sentence.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy said that the staff member had to deal with “absolutely atrocious behaviour”.
The injured party told the court today that she had to leave her job as a result of the incident, which affected her “permanently”. She said that there was property damage as a result and that it caused her stress.
The worker said that she feels that she has to be alert and is constantly looking over her shoulder after the incident.
Judge Dunphy said that Roche lost his temper in the McDonalds over a missing drink and assaulted the woman, knocking the glasses off her face.
He said that this would be “frightening” for any sales assistant and that it would be an embarrassing thing to happen in front of colleagues.
Judge Dunphy also noted that Roche was approximately 19 at the time of the offence and was spiralling. He said that the defendant now presents as drug free and is working full time, with a low risk of re-offending.
On the assault charge, Judge Dunphy decided to convict and impose a 12-month probation bond on the condition that Roche keeps the peace and follows all directions of the probation services. He took the other matters taken into consideration.
He also ordered that compensation of €2,000 be paid to the injured party.
Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
