Derry judge says he has 'tried everything' to help woman before jail sentence issued

Biddy Mongan (24) of Glenabbey Crescent in Derry admitted a series of offences including assaulting a nurse and assaulting police on various dates.

The court heard on April 21 police were called to a report of an unconscious woman being assisted by members of the public.

They found Mongan in John Street in the city and took her to hospital.

About an hour later Mongan regained consciousness and began making demand which the court heard 'weren't feasible'.

When these were refused, she assaulted a staff nurse and dug her nails into a police officer's arm.

The court also heard of an incident on May 10 when police received a report of two females fighting in John Street at around 7.30pm.

They responded and observed two women 'hugging' on the ground.

Police separated them and one of them, Mongan, became abusive towards police and then tried to bite an officer.

She then spat on an officer several times and had to be physically restrained.

She kicked out so much inside the vehicle the driver was forced to stop, it was said.

The final incident occurred on June 18 when police received a report of a woman unsteady on her feet in the middle of the road at 9.20am.

Mongan appeared intoxicated and was arrested for breaching her bail and became aggressive with police.

At one stage she called an officer 'a Paki'.

Defence counsel Eoghan Devlin said that the court was well aware of Mongan's tragic life story.

He said she had been let down by many of those bodies who were supposed to have protected her.

The barrister said that Mongan was in 'a cycle of offending' where she just keeps coming back before the court.

District Judge Barney McElholm said he had 'tried everything' to help Mongan in the past but she seemed to be beyond that.

The judge said that in order to stop offending she had to stop her substance abuse.

Mongan was jailed for 4 months at the hearting on Friday.