A 27-YEAR-OLD man from Co. Armagh has been jailed for four months after exposing himself and kicking a nurse who was eight months pregnant.
Christopher McDaid, from Dill Avenue in Lurgan, was sentenced at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court today, having earlier pleaded guilty to 12 charges relating to three different incidents this year.
The most serious incident occurred on St Patrick’s Day at Craigavon Area Hospital, after McDaid had been drinking at home.
When the pregnant nurse walked past McDaid to take his blood pressure, he kicked her in the back.
After being taken to a triage area, he began urinating on the floor. When asked by a member of staff to pull his trousers up, he replied “go f*** yourself”.
Spitting
When police moved him to an A&E cubicle, he again became abusive and spat in an officer’s mouth.
The nurse and her unborn baby were fortunately unharmed.
During a previous incident on February 14, he spat at and kicked police who were called to reports of a man driving under the influence.
CCTV footage showed McDaid driving the car but he refused to give a breath sample.
In the third incident, on April 6, police were called after McDaid was spotted sitting in the passenger seat of a friend’s car outside a Lurgan bar, which was a breach of his bail conditions.
'Obscene'
He again became aggressive, resisted arrest and spat at officers.
McDaid pleaded guilty to a total of 12 offences, including two counts of disorderly behaviour, two of resisting police, two of assaulting police, two of causing criminal damage, and one count each of obstructing police, exposure, common assault and failing to provide a specimen of breath.
Defence barrister David McGeown said an incident last year had driven McDaid into a cycle of alcohol abuse and that he is a different person when sober.
Sentencing, District Judge Bernie Kelly said: “To attack a woman who was eight months pregnant is obscene and made all the more obscene when you realise her role was as a medical practitioner, there to provide medical assistance to you because of the state that you voluntarily got yourself into.”
She also banned McDaid from driving for 18 months and fined him £150.
