An elderly woman was put in wheelie bin and battered in a shocking early-hours attack. Marie MacGowan, 86, was assaulted by Alex Bailey, 30, several times in a 42-minute period at around 2am on September 1, 2022.
Bailey was said to be experiencing induced psychosis due to his level of intoxication and was under “the delusional belief that the victim was a predatory paedophile”. He subjected Mrs McGowan to a number of attacks, including knocking her to the ground, putting her head first into a wheelie bin and applying pressure to the lid, reports the Irish Mirror.
As she tried to escape the predicament when the bin fell over, a court heard how Bailey punched her in the face and kicked her in the body.
CCTV footage showed he met the woman in a Dublin suburb around 2 am on September 1, 2022. The woman, who feared she was going to be killed, got lost on her way home and later told police: “I really thought I was going to be dead.”
Patrick Gageby, SC, defending, told the court his client had taken a significant number of intoxicants which led to “induced psychosis”, and he was under “the delusional belief that the victim was a predatory paedophile”. Bailey believed the pensioner to be a man dressed as a woman.
Garda Paul O’Donnell told Paddy Jackson, BL, prosecuting, that three students passed by and came to the woman’s aid. At this point, she was sitting on the kerb and her face and hands were covered in blood.
A compilation of the footage captured was shown to the court, which showed Bailey standing nearby as the students tried to help the elderly woman. He can be seen engaging in conversation with the group before walking away.
Garda O’Donnell said the woman told the students that Bailey had assaulted her and taken her wallet. He had left the scene before emergency services arrived. Police secured the footage and arrested the 30-year-old.
A victim impact statement from the woman’s son Jack MacGowan said that the assault “nearly killed her" and that "it has impacted her life in a major way and significantly reduced her quality of life.” He said his mother was traumatised and unable to walk for weeks. She lost her sense of balance and required 24/7 specialist care for four months.
He said she was obsessed with her “near-death experience” and repeated regularly, “Please stop killing me,” and “Are you trying to kill me?” She suffered regular bouts of physical shaking and has not slept well since the attack.
The incidents of physical shaking have reduced considerably, he revealed, but his mother has become withdrawn and is unable to walk unaided. He said she has lost her confidence and her dementia has worsened.
She is highly unlikely to leave the nursing home and is sad and depressed. “Many times, it seems as if she has given up," he said. He added that prior to the attack, his mother really didn’t want to lose her independence and led “quite a fulfilling social life”.
Judge Crowe sentenced Bailey to three years in prison, backdated from when he went into custody. The final six months of his sentence were suspended under the condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years post-release. He must abstain from all alcohol and drugs, attend the Rutland Centre for one-year post-release and agree to random urine testing.
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