Singer Dolores O’Riordan is receiving ongoing residential medical treatment, a court was told today.
Ms O’Riordan was a ‘no-show’ at court today concerning summons she is facing from an alleged ‘air rage’ related incident at Shannon airport last year.
Arising from the case, the 43 year old mother of three is accused of four separate alleged offences – including three separate minor assault charges – from the incident at Shannon on November 10th last.
At Ennis District Court today, Ms O’Riordan’s solicitor, Bill O’Donnell said that his client “is receiving ongoing medical treatment” in a residential setting.
Mr O’Donnell said that Ms O’Riordan “continues to benefit from the treatment” and asked that the case be adjourned to later in the year for a plea or a date for hearing.
In the case, Ms O’Riordan with an address of Friarstown, Grange, Kilmallock is accused of assaulting Garda Shane Dawson and two members of the Airport Police at Shannon, Ronan O’Reilly and Eamon Power on November 10th last.
Ms O’Riordan – who turns 44 on Sunday next – is also facing being charged with resisting/wilfully obstructing Garda Dawson in the execution of his duty contrary to Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.
A Garda personally served court papers on the singer at Limerick on Tuesday of last week.
All of the alleged offences are alleged to have taken place after Ms O’Riordan left the Aer Lingus aircraft that had just landed from New York’s JFK.
There was no legal obligation for Ms O’Riordan to be in court today and Judge Patrick Duncan adjourned the case to December 16th.
Any person found guilty of a Section 2 assault in the district court can be fined up to €1,850 or a maximum of six months in jail.
The papers were served on the singer after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) – after considering the matter for five months – recommended that Ms O’Riordan face prosecution.
Ms O’Riordan has achieved worldwide album sales of 40 million but yesterday she was one of 52 names on the court list that she shared with others facing much more alleged offences including the likes of false imprisonment and dangerous driving and while the usual cases of petty thievery and drunk and disorderly cases were heard before Judge Durcan.
It is expected that when the details of the case are heard, Ms O’Riordan’s mental state at the time of the incident is expected to play a prominent role in the case.
During her time in custody at Shannon Garda Station, Ms O’Riordan engaged in a chorus of singing and shouting from her jail cell.
The singer spent three hours in the cell and her behaviour pattern during that time eventually resulted in the Gardai calling a local doctor out of concerns for Ms O’Riordan’s psychological well-being.
The local GP assessed the Limerick woman and recommended that she be further assessed at University Hospital Limerick. She was then brought to the hospital or assessment under Garda escort.
Following the incident, it emerged that Ms O’Riordan has a bi-polar disorder diagnosis.
