Mother Of Three Spared Jail After 'Rampage' On Three Random Women

The incidents occurred over the space of a day in various locations in Mullingar.

A mother of three who violently targeted three women at random in a “frenetic rampage” after taking unprescribed anxiety medication has avoided jail.

Caitlin Bardon, 25, of Dalton Park, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, beat a woman in front of her toddler, who later began mimicking the violence by punching his mother.

She pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court last year to two counts of assault causing harm to two women and a less severe attack on a third, as well as breach of the peace on May 8, 2024.

The incidents occurred at various locations in Mullingar, and she returned to court for sentencing on Thursday, when she received a three-year sentence suspended on condition she does not reoffend for five years and obeys a range of conditions,

Finalising the case, Judge Keenan Johnson, the Circuit Court President, imposed a three-year sentence, suspended on the condition that she does not reoffend for five years.

Noting a positive probation report detailing her progress, he praised her efforts, remarking that "she has embraced the road to rehabilitation" and has taken control of her life for herself and her children.

The report outlined her efforts to become drug-free, accept assistance, and secure employment. The suspended sentence requires her to refrain from alcohol and drugs, submit to urine analysis when requested by gardaí or the Probation Service, maintain employment, and engage with therapeutic supports to address her mental health and substance misuse issues.

Earlier, Garda Enda Kelly said the first attack happened when a mother came out of a coffee shop with her three-year-old son.

“She felt a punch to the right side of her ear” and looked up to see Bardon about to lunge at her.

She pushed Bardon back, and the accused started shouting, “What are you looking at?”

A man was with Bardon, trying to hold her back, and the victim described the accused as very erratic.

Her son saw the attack, and later, she noticed she had a cut to the back of her ear, but it did not need stitches.

A teenage girl witnessed a public order incident and saw the accused in an “agitated state,” with a male following her. She was repeatedly shouting at the 17-year-old girl, "You’re a tramp, you’re a whore, I’m going to tear you.”

The accused and the male followed her into a shop, and Bardon shouted at her for three minutes while other customers stood around the teen as threats were made.

The girl was terrified and shocked. She had never met her before but believed she would carry out her threats.

The accused went on to assault another woman who was walking on a street in the town and punched her on the right side of her head in another unprovoked attack, leaving her shocked.

The next incident happened shortly afterwards when the accused and a male walked toward another woman, and Bardon pulled the bun of her hair and dragged her onto the ground, leaving her in agony and terrified. Curled on the ground, she looked up and saw Bardon holding her phone, screaming at her.

The woman tried to get up and call for help, but the phone was returned. She suffered pain in her head and arms and scrapes to her back.

Bardon and the man with her walked away, screaming at each other.

The final incident occurred in a Tesco supermarket in the town, where Bardon suddenly ran at a shopper, saying, “I’ll show you, I’ll show you.” The woman had never seen Bardon before. She was suddenly pushed to the ground and landed on her back, and Bardon “had a crazy look on her face” as she kept pulling her hair and “dragged her by the hair a number of times”.

She took the woman’s keys and phone, but they were retrieved. That victim described the violence as random and terrifying.

CCTV evidence was shown.

Bardon had 16 convictions for public order, theft, and trespass offences.

Victim impact statements detailed how the women were left shocked, anxious and suffering flashbacks as a result. One incurred €570 in medical expenses.

The victim attacked in front of her young child revealed how her little boy later began copying the violence and began punching her with a closed fist “as a result of what he saw”.

Defence counsel Andrea Callan said her client had a chaotic upbringing and experienced trauma.

Before the incidents, described by the judge as appalling and a frenetic rampage, Bardon had taken six or seven unprescribed Tranax tablets for chronic anxiety. “And was not fully aware of what she was doing” but was remorseful when she saw the video evidence.

The violent incidents coincided with a running argument Bardon was having with her partner that day.