Haddington dental nurse spat in the face of elderly woman

Shannon O’Donnell woke the 72-year-old woman in the middle of the night and launched the attack after the OAP had attempted to help her in Haddington.

O’Donnell, 23, then fled before going on to assault a factory worker and a police officer by spitting on them during a racist and homophobic tirade in November 2022.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that, despite her claims, the dental assistant does not have any children and has no memory of carrying out the assaults.

Prosecutor Xander van der Scheer told the court that Irene Reilly and her husband were asleep in bed at their home on Tyne Court when she heard banging on her front door at about 1.30am on November 22, 2022.

The fiscal said Mrs Reilly heard a woman outside shouting that she “needed help as she had a really sick baby” and opened the door to find O’Donnell sitting on her doorstep.

The court heard O’Donnell was in an “agitated” state and the female householder had attempted to comfort her.

Shannon O'Donnell banged on the front door of a terrified pensioner claiming she needed help for her sick baby before assaulting the woman by spitting in her face. Image: Facebook

Mr van der Scheer said: “Mrs Reilly became quite cold as she was wearing only pyjamas and she stepped back in and started to shut the door.

“It was at this point the accused has jumped up and thrown herself at the door.

“She knocked Mrs Reilly back and, as she fell, the accused spat directly into her eye.”

Mrs Reilly shouted for help and a neighbour rushed to her aid and the police were contacted.

O’Donnell, of Seggarsdean Court, left the area and headed towards the nearby PureMalt factory where she knocked on the front door and was met by nightshift worker Jamie Robertson at about 2am.

The court was told that O’Donnell was “crying and barged past him” and, after lying down on the floor, she “began screaming she had a baby outside”.

The employee managed to get her up and was ushering her from the premises when the court was told that “she spat at Mr Robertson as he tried to get her outside".

O’Donnell was described as ‘drunk and abusive” and also slapped the worker on the head and pushed him on the body during the incident.

The dental nurse was arrested soon after and, as she was being taken to a waiting police van, she also spat in the face of PC Gillian Kellet.

Mr van der Scheer said O’Donnell shouted abuse at police constables calling one “a blonde bitch” and was heard making comments including “****ing p***”, “you brown c***” and “black c***”.

O’Donnell pleaded guilty to four offences on indictment when she appeared in the dock at the capital court last week.

Her solicitor Angela Craig said her client worked full-time as a dental nurse and was deemed fit to appear in court after being psychiatrically assessed.

Ms Craig said: “She had been out in the evening socially and the next thing she remembered was being in a police cell.”

The solicitor told the court that O’Donnell did not have any children and lived with her family near to the scene of the incidents.

Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss deferred sentence for social work reports to be prepared, and for a restriction of liberty order assessment, to next month.