Stephan Obelngoa receives suspended sentence after dragging child away from mother

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Stephan Obelngoa received a fully suspended prison sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after dragging an 11-year-old visually impaired girl away from her mother at The Square, Tallaght. The proceedings were reported on 2 July 2025.

Obelngoa pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, assault of a peace officer and resisting arrest. The offences took place on 2 October 2023. He was on bail at the time and had six previous convictions.

The court heard that the girl was screaming, crying and struggling as Obelngoa dragged her away. Her mother described her as “bouncing off the ground”. Obelngoa then threw her into a concession stand. Two security guards subdued him, Garda Sergeant Gemma Collins said.

When gardaí arrived, Obelngoa spat blood and saliva into an officer’s face and tried to bite gardaí as they attempted to handcuff him. The girl suffered minor soft tissue tenderness and abrasions; the court heard she later had trouble sleeping and was anxious in public places.

Defence counsel Ciara Ní Ghabhann said Obelngoa has schizophrenia, had been off medication for six months at the time and was self-medicating with cannabis. She said he had written apology letters to the girl and the garda, had no clear memory of the incident and was embarrassed when shown CCTV footage.

Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain imposed concurrent one-year prison terms on the two assault charges, suspending them in full for two years on strict conditions. She was satisfied the defence had established that Obelngoa was suffering from a mental illness, but said his mental state did not remove all his culpability. She took account of his guilty plea and a positive probation report.