Woman who went on ‘rampage’ of ‘unprovoked, savage assaults’ to reappear

A woman who went on an “absolutely chaotic rampage” which involved the savage assaults of four random women in the streets of Mullingar, is due to reappear in court in October, for sentence.

Caitlin Bardon (25), with an address at Dalton Park, Mullingar, Westmeath, appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson at Mullingar Circuit Court, where it was heard she has been “keeping out of trouble”.

Ms Bardon is charged with assaulting four women who were going about their business in Mullingar in May 2024.

A total of five charges were brought against Ms Bardon, three for section 3 assault, one for section 2 assault and another for section 6 public order. Guilty pleas were entered on all charges in November.

The court previously heard how, on May 8, 2024, at approximately 2pm, gardaí were made aware of a number of incidents in various locations around Mullingar.

The first of those occurred on Dominick Street, when a mother was exiting a café after buying a babycino for her three-year-old son and was punched to the right side of her head by Ms Bardon.

From there, Ms Bardon moved to Castle Street, where another woman noticed her in an agitated state, arguing with a male. Ms Bardon began shouting at the woman: “you’re a tramp, you’re a whore, I’m going to tear you”, prompting the woman to go into a clothing store.

The accused followed her, continuing to shout at her, and staff members came to the woman’s side. Ms Bardon left the store and the woman saw her cross the road and hit another woman.

That woman had left work to get a prescription for her mother when, on the way back, the accused came and punched her in the head in a “totally unprovoked” attack.

Ms Bardon then moved on to Harbour Street, where another woman noticed a male and female “screaming at each other” and banging on a window as they argued.

The woman continued walking and then felt someone grab the bun of her hair and drag her to the ground. She looked up and saw Ms Bardon standing over her, screaming. The woman suffered pain to her lower back, arms and her head, and attended the emergency department for treatment.

The final assault took place at 1.30pm in a Tesco store, where another woman was carrying a basket of groceries. She was making her way to the till when she was approached by Ms Bardon who said, “I’ll show you, I’ll show you” and pushed her hard, causing her to land on her back and hit her head on the floor.

The accused continued to grab her and push her, and took her keys and phone. The woman managed to grab those back but Ms Bardon again pushed her to the ground and screamed at her.

The woman suffered pain to her head and face following the assault. The left side of her face suffered some swelling and the left side of her head was tender.

Ms Bardon remained “highly aggressive” when arrested and, when questioned by gardaí, said she had taken six or seven Tramaz tablets that morning.

At the sentence hearing in March of last year, Judge Johnson said that Ms Bardon had gone on “a chaotic rampage, which involved a series of unprovoked and seriously violent attacks”.

“This is extremely serious and it’s just not acceptable in civilised society. It’s not going to be tolerated. This is a series of offences that warrants an immediate custodial sentence,” he said, adding that he would be “failing” in his duties if he did not follow through with a custodial sentence.

The case was adjourned a number of times to allow Ms Bardon to engage with various services.

Noting she had managed to keep herself “out of trouble”, Judge Johnson agreed to adjourn sentencing to October 6, directing a short probation report and urine analysis for that date.