Co Galway farmer convicted of assault after throwing cow dung at Fianna Fáil politician – The Irish Times

A Co Galway farmer has been found guilty of assaulting Minister of State Anne Rabbitte by throwing a bag of cow dung at her during a public meeting last year.

Joseph Baldwin (39), of Ballyaneen, Gort, had pleaded not guilty at Ennis District Court to the charge, relating to an incident involving the Fianna Fáil TD before a meeting on January 4, 2023 at the O Hotel ‘Sullivan to Gort regarding a planned biogas plant.

However, Judge Alec Gabbett found him guilty of the offense and of disturbing the peace. He adjourned sentencing until December to allow Baldwin to cooperate with probation services and for a report on him to be completed.

Last month, Ms Rabbitte cried in the witness box as she recalled the incident. She alleged that before Baldwin threw the bag at her, he said: “‘I’m not forgetting you, there’s one for you Rabbitte,’ and then he threw a bag as well.”

After the bag fell to the ground next to her, Ms Rabbitte said someone picked it up and announced “it was a bag of shit” and she “wanted to shout at me because no one didn’t say that what was happening was wrong.” “.

Ms Rabbitte said she distracted herself during the public meeting by pulling out her phone and posting a tweet stating “I can’t believe a bag of sh*t was thrown at me”. She said she then went to local gardaí to have what happened noted down.

Speaking to reporters outside court after the verdict, Ms Rabbitte said politicians expected “hectic debates at any time” but that a “line had been crossed” in this case and that the judge had recognized him.

“I’m happy that this has been concluded and that’s the end as far as I’m concerned,” she added.

In a prepared statement to Gardaí, read to the court, Baldwin said he went to the meeting “with no intention of harming anyone”. He said he once went “into the farmyard and put dry cow dung in ziplock bags.” He said there was “no smell or smell coming from the bags and I made sure they were secure”.

Baldwin said he expected “all the TDs and councilors to be at the top table where I could leave the bags in front of them”.

He said a first bag fell two to three feet from Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon and he threw the second bag in the direction of Ms Rabbitte. He said it “knocked someone else away and fell to the ground near her.”

Regarding why he decided to bring the bags, he said he said to himself “I’ve had enough” and that “all I was doing was making the point of view known the community.”