Dublin Castle security man guilty of work place attack on OPW employee

A Dublin Castle security man who lost control and jumped on a colleague before repeatedly hitting him in the face in a workplace attack, will be sentenced in April

Griffith O'Keefe (46), with an address at St Patrick's Avenue, North Strand, Dublin 3, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to assault causing harm to Office of Public Works employee Noel Redmond at Dublin Castle on February 27th, 2018.

A father of two, the defendant who had been a security man for 20 years, lost his job as a result of the incident.

Judge Dermot Simms said on Wednesday the court was concerned at the seriousness of the assault. A lot of workplaces can be very stressful but society depended on a division of labour and people being able to work together in stressful situations, he said.

He was furnished with a probation report.

He adjourned sentencing to allow the defendant time to complete a restorative justice services programme.

Change to shift

The court was told Mr Redmond arrived at work and tried to get access to a door that had been locked. He could not get in and believed the accused had deliberately kept the door locked.

After three or four minutes O’Keefe took the lock off, Judge Dermot Simms was told.

During an exchange between the pair, Redmond told O’Keefe there would be a change in relation to his shift.

Redmond then turned to go down a set of stairs when O’Keefe jumped on him and “straddled” him before hitting him six or seven times to his head and face.

During the attack he shouted, “You’ll not be getting on this f***ing unit” and he then jumped off Redmond before heading to the canteen.

A victim impact statement and medical reports were handed in to court.

Redmond told the court he had no hard feelings against O’Keefe but he had been left out of pocket as a result of dental work.

Dental damage

Put to him by a defence solicitor that there was no mention of this in earlier medical reports, he claimed his dentist told him damage to his teeth was caused by the assault.

The defence asked the judge to note the dentist’s report just stated it was possible it was caused by the attack.

O’Keefe had no prior convictions and had not come to attention since.

Pleading for leniency, his solicitor referred to the early guilty plea and that he accepted it was a very serious offence.

He had no excuse and “lost control” and was very sorry, the court heard.

A medical report was furnished which referred to a condition he suffered from and which leads to some outbursts of anger.

He was a strong family man and it was out of character for him, the judge was told.

It had also caused him to lose a permanent pensionable job and has had financial difficulties.

The victim might be entitled to redress elsewhere because it was a workplace incident, the defence submitted.

O’Keefe had also apologised in writing to Redmond, the court heard.

A conviction could be detrimental to his future, his solicitor said.