Tullamore fast-food owner hit girl with brush

The owner of a fast-food restaurant has received a three-month suspended sentence for assaulting a 14-year-old girl who was standing outside his premises. The girl broke down at Tullamore District Court as she described how Frank O"Connor, 63, of Oakfield, Tullamore, caught her around the neck with a sweeping brush and dragged her into the Abrakebabra restaurant in the town where he continued to assault her. Judge Gerard Haughton found Mr O"Connor guilty and suspended his sentence on the condition that he pay the girl compensation of €2,500. She and five other young people had been waiting for a friend outside the fast-food joint on the evening of November 7, 2007, when he called them 'knackers' and told them to 'get back where you came from'. He came outside carrying a brush and while sweeping the path, hit the girl in the back of the legs. O"Connor told Tullamore District Court he had hit her because she was on his property. He said he was angry and sick of telling young people to move on. The girl told the court that when she asked him why he hit her, he put the brush over her head from behind and dragged her inside. He tried to pull the brush towards her throat while she tried to push it away. He hit her when she would not let go and when she fell to the ground he struck her head and face with the handle of the brush until someone dragged her to safety. Garda Adrian Hanley said O"Connor admitted to the assault immediately afterwards, saying he had trouble with kids outside the premises and he 'couldn"t take it anymore'. Judge Haughton said O"Connor, by his own admission, was the aggressor. There was no evidence the teenager was any threat or that O"Connor needed to defend himself. His previous conviction under the Public Order Act for threatening, abusive behaviour, showed he had the 'gall' to accuse young people minding their own business of being a public nuisance.