‘Botanic girl’ breaches bail within two days

The 17-year-old female known as ‘Botanic Girl’ was involved in alcohol-fuelled assaults in public Botanic Park last Thursday, as the Tab Belfast reported. Footage of the event went viral on social media, with police subsequently charging the girl with four counts of common assault.

It has since come to light that the girl has breached bail twice in two days by flouting an alcohol ban, the court has heard. After being released last week on bail and ordered to appear in court on May 31st, she has been taken into custody again for allegedly violating a prohibition on drinking alcohol.

The girl, whose name cannot be mentioned due to her age, spoke only to consult with her lawyer, Michael Boyd, today when she appeared before Belfast Magistrates’ Court.

He stated that she had accepted the latest breach, and accepted that “full bail is possibly unrealistic at this juncture.”

Credit: Belfast Live

A police officer also told District Judge Fiona Bagnall: “This is the second breach of bail in two days. There’s only so much (we can do).”

Thus Judge Bagnall has ordered the teenager to remain in custody, with the exception of temporary compassionate release for a medical appointment on this coming Wednesday.

The judge further stressed that “she is to be in the company of a social worker at all times… and returned to Hydebank Young Offenders Centre by 3pm.”

In addition, the 25-year-old man who was with the girl in Botanic Park, and who also can be seen in the video, was charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault on police as part of the same investigation.