Woman (46) who brandished a kitchen knife in a Derry shopping centre jailed
Gwen Doherty from Patrick Street admitted assaulting a grandmother and a security guard during her rampage in the Quayside Shopping Centre on the Strand Road less than 100 yards from her Patrick Street address
A 46-year-old local woman who terrified customers in a city centre shopping centre by brandishing a kitchen knife has been jailed for 12 months at Derry Crown Court.
Gwen Doherty from Patrick Street admitted assaulting a grandmother and a security guard during her rampage in the Quayside Shopping Centre on the Strand Road less than 100 yards from her Patrick Street address.
Doherty, who has been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder, committed the offences on August 2, 2022 while in breach of a suspended sentence.
She also admitted causing criminal damage by stabbing a perspex screen, a gaming machine and CCTV cameras and guilty to possessing a knife with intent to commit an assault.
A prosecution barrister said Doherty, who had eighty previous criminal convictions, approached one woman in the shopping centre armed with the knife.
"The defendant saw her and lifted the knife so as to attack her with it. The woman ran into the Tesco store with her grandchild. She described being unable to explain how frightened she was for the safety of her and of her grandchild. She was shaking and felt physically ill", the prosecutor said.
When Doherty was approached by a member of the security staff she shouted at him 'I'm going to f*****g kill you, come out here and I'll stick this in you".
The barrister said Doherty left 33 strike marks with her knife on the perspex screen, gaming machine and on the CCTV cameras. She left the shopping centre and as she walked past a nearby bar she waved the knife in the face of a person standing outside the premises.
Doherty was arrested after she was identified by members of the public to the police.
Defence barrister Sinead Rogan said Doherty, who has recently been diagnosed with autism, had a complicated mental health history and said Doherty has been in custody since last October.
Jailing Doherty for 12 months, Judge Neil Rafferty K.C. commented: "This case involves the possession of a knife in a shopping centre. The people of this city are entitled to push prams in a shopping centre without someone going around stabbing screens in front of them.
"I have viewed the CCTV in this case and it shows her parading around and brandishing a knife at a man standing outside. She then goes into the trolley area of the shopping centre, stabs the perspex glass, stabs the CCTV camera and then goes further into the shopping centre where she causes alarm and distress to members of the public".