Teen ‘jumped’ on victim after she was refused mobile phone

Saiyanna Hickey, with an address at Greenvale Park in Magherafelt, is accused of assaulting the woman, occasioning her actual bodily harm, on May 3.

The 19-year-old also faces a charge of common assault on the injured party on the same date.

The court heard Hickey had been granted bail in relation to other charges and was living at the Magherafelt address.

Objecting to a bail application, a police officer told the court that at 9pm police attended the Greenvale address in response to a report on an ongoing attack on the injured party.

He said the injured party alleged Hickey had jumped on her two or three times after she refused to give her a mobile phone to listen to music on.

The officer said the victim alleged the defendant had punched and kicked her several times and pushed her into a cupboard where she continued to attack her.

He said the victim suffered cuts, redness to the back and neck and complained of pains all over her body.

The officer said they had a number of concerns about Hickey being granted bail.

He said she has committed a total of 12 violent offences, and had 23 offences in total for a young woman.

The officer said she had now assaulted the person who had offered her a bail address and there was a risk of her re-offending.

He told Deputy District Judge Noel Dunlop that anyone willing to provide their home as a bail address would need to be suitably trained to deal with her issues.

A defence lawyer said it would be unsatisfactory to keep Hickey in custody if an address suitable to the police can be found.

He pointed out that by the time a possible trial date was reached she would have served six months which would be in excess of any prison sentence she is likely to get.

Counsel said there was no medical evidence before the court as to the extend of the injuries sustained by the injured party.

He claimed the injured party had previously failed to cooperate with police and proceedings had failed on that account.

The lawyer suggested that if the defendant was kept away from the injured party and a suitable address found she could be remanded on bail.

Refusing bail and remanding Hickey in custody to appear at Magherafelt Court on June 2, Judge Dunlop remarked that from what he heard there was a high risk of re-offending.

Editor’s message:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.