Two sisters who pleaded guilty to a charge of Affray at Longford Shopping Centre in 2022 have been sentenced today. Judge Kenneth Connolly handed down sentence today at Longford Circuit Criminal Court relating to the incident in Penny's in March of 2022.
Teresa Dinnegan (38) of 18 Grian Ard Longford and Cindy Duignan (41) of 28 Ardnacassa Avenue Longford appeared in court today charged with a single charge of Affray. The charge relates to an incident at Penny's in Longford Shopping Centre on the 16th of March in which one women was injured.
Annalise Power (26) of The Hollows, Farnagh Hill, Longford was sentenced in November 2024 for her role in the incident, charged with affray and the production of a knife. She received an 18 month suspended sentence, 150 hours of community service and a €1,000 euro payment to Penny's for losses incurred.
Witness statements from a security guard in the store described that on hearing a loud bang, he ran to the homeware section of the store where he witnessed a women lying on the ground with two more women on top of her hitting each other. When the member of staff broke up the fight, Annalise Power was described as running to her bag before coming back with a small knife.
Annalise and sister's Cindy Duignan and Teresa Dinnegan then clashed again according to evidence with the security guard trying to separate them. The incident left Teresa's Dinnegan with a large gash on her forearm and wrist that required five stitches along with a small head injury.
Gardaí were on the scene quickly and Teresa was taking to Midoc Longford for Treatment. The store was cleared and closed for the day, with Penny's stating it resulted in the loss of €13,000 worth of lost sales.
CCTV played to court showed the early moments of the incident, however some footage witnessed by Gardaí was later corrupted on transfer due to the age of the CCTV system. All three women were arrested and brought to Longford Garda Station, where Teresa Dinnegan and Cindy Duignan were said to be co-operative with Gardaí in their investigation.
Teresa Dinnegan told Gardaí that Annalise Power had been following her around the shop and on one encounter had insulted he regarding a medical condition and stuck her shoulder out to her as she walked by. Teresa also claimed that Ms Power had a knife in her hand at the start of the altercation, but this could not be confirmed as the CCTV footage of this angle had been lost.
When questioned by Gardaí, all three women confirmed the incident was unrelated to any feuding and was a personal altercation. This was welcomed by Judge Connolly who stated 'he was blue in the face saying that feuding equals jail' when it comes to his sentencing.
In sentencing the two women, Judge Connolly referred to the early plea of guilty by both women, their cooperation with Gardaí and their apologies to the Gardaí, bystanders and staff of Penny's Longford. The judge also acknowledged that Cindy Duignan had lost her job in Centre Parcs Longford as a result of this incident as was attempting to find new employment. Teresa Dinnegan was sentenced to 12 month jail sentence with the entirety suspended for two years.
The court was informed that she was an unsuitable candidate for community service due to ongoing serious health problems and that she had brought €1,000 to court to pay to Penny's or a charity of the courts choice. Cindy Duignan was stated to have had a lesser part in the incident but had still involved herself voluntarily.
She was sentenced to 9 months in prison with that commuted to 70 hours of community service, with the Longford woman also bringing €500 to court to pay Penny's. Both women were instructed to engage with the employment and training officer of the Probation service to work towards gaining a job.
