Louth woman who tasered bank official during home repossession refuses to enter bond

A Louth woman who tasered one security official and punched another one as they repossessed her home has been taken into custody after she refused to enter a good behaviour bond.

Lisa Temple (56) was on Monday given a one-year suspended sentence in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, but she refused to enter into a bond to be of good behaviour. As a result, Judge Martin Nolan said she should be taken into custody, telling her: “No-one is above the law, including you, Ms Temple.”

He said he didn't want to send Temple to prison and told her he was trying to impose a non-custodial sentence.

“And I'm trying to tell you to give up yer aul sins,” Temple replied. She told the court she was not going to “bend down” to the court, even as some of her supporters and her two adult daughters pleaded with her to enter into the bond.

Temple, with an address in Gann Road, Carlingford, Co. Louth, was convicted of two counts of assault under Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act and possession of an article - a taser - capable of inflicting harm on March 30, 2022, at Sir Ivor Mall, The Chase, Brewery Road, Leopardstown, Co. Dublin.

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Temple represented herself during the six-day trial but was represented by senior counsel at her sentence hearing to on Monday after she was found guilty last month.

Garret Baker SC, defending, told the court that his client had given him “rigid” instructions to seek an adjournment because she did not believe she could be adequately defended by counsel at short notice. He said it was an “emotionally charged long-standing property dispute”.

The sentence was due to be heard last Friday but Judge Nolan granted an adjournment to yesterday to give defence counsel time to confer with their client. When Judge Nolan indicated he wished to hear evidence of the case, Temple started protesting and shouting from the dock.

When she refused to stop, Judge Nolan ordered that she be put into the court cells and evidence was then heard in her absence.

Sergeant Keith Arkins told Diana Stuart SC, prosecuting, that on the date in question, two bank security officials were assaulted by Temple as they repossessed her home.

One official was punched by Temple “with a closed fist to the head,” the court heard. Temple then lunged at the second official with a taser, which was crackling and made contact with his clothing, Sgt Arkins said. She was pushed away by one of the men in the course of the disupte, the court heard. 

Neither man required medical attention after the incident and there were no victim impact statements before the court. The maximum sentence for possession of an article is seven years, while the maximum sentence for simple assault is six months. Temple has one minor previous conviction for failing to display a tax disc.

After the garda had given evidence, Judge Nolan recalled Temple back to court and proceeded to hand down sentence.

“Some of her behaviour at trial was somewhat disgraceful,” he said. “Some of her behaviour today has been somewhat disgraceful.”

But he said having heard the facts at trial and Monday's sentence hearing, he did not believe she deserved a custodial term. He noted it was a distressing time for her.

After the sentence was handed down, Temple asked if she would have a criminal record and was told she would. After she was taken into custody, Judge Nolan gave defence counsel liberty to re-apply should Temple change her mind and agree to enter the bond to be of good behaviour and pay a sum of €100.