‘Frenetic rampage’ mum (24) on anxiety meds targeted random women in Mullingar

Tom Tuite

A young mother violently targeted four women at random in a “frenetic rampage” after taking unprescribed anxiety medication, a court has heard.

Caitlin Bardon, 24, of Dalton Park, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, punched a woman in front of her toddler, who has since begun mimicking the violence to punch his mother.

She pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to three women and a less severe attack on a fourth woman, as well as breach of the peace on May 8th last year.

The incidents at various locations in Mullingar.

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 public order incident was witnessed by a teenage girl who 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 in the right side of her head in another unprovoked attack, leaving her shocked.

The following 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 where Bardon 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”.

CCTV

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.

Judge Johnson heard two victim impact statements that two of the women were shocked, anxious and suffering flashbacks as a result. One incurred €570 in medical expenses.

The woman attacked in the presence of her young child related how her little boy has since copied 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, but she managed to bring €300 to court.

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. The judge remarked that he had concerns about her being still in that toxic relationship.

The court heard the accused, a mother of three who is on bail, had detoxed of drugs after being remanded in custody last year and was attending psychotherapy.

Sentencing was adjourned until July.