The Minister of State at the Department of Health has testified in court that a man told her “I am not forgetting about you, there is one for you Rabbitte” before flinging a bag of cow dung towards her as she attended a public meeting.
Ms Rabbitte, who is also Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth told the court that she was “picked out” by Joseph Baldwin.
She said: “There was no safety. I didn’t feel safe in a public space with the people that elected me.”
She said: “I felt I was the most vulnerable person in the room," adding: “I didn’t feel protected or feel safe there.”
Asked why she later went to the gardai that night after the public meeting, Minister Rabbitte said: “There is a line and I felt it was crossed that night and no one spoke up for me and I had to speak up for myself that night.”
In the case, south Galway farmer, Joseph Baldwin, aged 39, of Ballyaneen, Gort denies assaulting Anne Rabbitte on January 4, 2023 at the public meeting, contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Recounting the incident, Ms Rabbitte said that she saw a man had flung a bag of contents towards Galway East constituency colleague, Ciaran Cannon of Fine Gael.
CCTV footage played to the court this Friday afternoon showed Mr Baldwin say “here is a bag of cow shite for you” before throwing the bag in the direction of Deputy Cannon. The bag fell at his feet.
After witnessing Mr Baldwin throwing the bag towards Deputy Cannon, Ms Rabbitte told the court that she thought “Jesus. God help us. What is after happening to Ciaran? How will he recover from that one?”
The CCTV footage showed Mr Baldwin turn and then throw a bag in the direction of Ms Rabbitte. The court heard from an eye-witness that the bag contained "a green liquid substance".
The Minister of State said that the man “was incredibly angry, his face was red”.
She said: “The white of his eyes I won’t forget.”
Ms Rabbitte said that the man said to her "'I am not forgetting about you, there is one for you Rabbitte' and then he flung a bag as well.”
After the bag fell on the ground beside her, Minister Rabbitte said: “I didn’t know if the two legs were going to go from under me.”
She said: “Someone picked it up and said that it was a bag of shit.”
Ms Rabbitte added: “I wanted to scream my head off because no one said that what was happening was wrong.”
On going to the local garda station to have what occurred ‘noted’, Ms Rabbitte said: “It is tough we do what we do but I love it and it is a privilege and I apologise judge to be bawlin’ my way through it, but someone had to speak up.”
Solicitor for Mr Baldwin, Daragh Hassett said that eight eyewitnesses, who were present on the night and who gave statements to the gardai, said that the bag thrown by Mr Baldwin did not hit Ms Rabbitte.
Mr Hassett said that Ms Rabbitte had recoiled from her statement to gardai where she said that the bag hit her on the torso and now says she felt it hit her.
Mr Hassett said: "It is quite clear from the footage that no bag struck you at all."
Ms Rabbitte said: “I still feel it. You can’t deny me my feelings.”
Mr Hassett told Ms Rabbitte after hearing her evidence “you are a very unreliable historian”. Mr Hassett described the Minister of State's direct evidence as "quite emotive".
During cross examination, Mr Hassett told Ms Rabbitte: "This isn't the Dail now, you can't be making speeches."
The solicitor said that Ms Rabbitte told gardai that the bag had struck Deputy Cannon and he pointed out that Deputy Cannon had told gardai that the bag did not hit him but instead landed at his feet.
Mr Hassett said that her statement to gardai that she was struck by the bag was “inaccurate and misleading” when seen alongside the CCTV evidence which shows that the bag did not hit her.
“It is not assault,” he submitted.
The case continues.
