“F--- you, you rat goof!” he yelled loudly into an NTV reporter’s camera while being escorted from the holding cells to the courtroom in provincial court in St. John’s.
Dunne — who was wearing a prison-issued white suit — wasn’t as boisterous coming out of the courtroom a few minutes later, but stuck out his tongue at this Telegram reporter’s camera and turned to push out his backside.
Lawyers decided to postpone Dunne’s case until Friday, at which time he may have a bail hearing.
The 41-year-old was taken into custody early Thursday morning after he was said to have brutally beaten a woman in a downtown boarding house.
The attack reportedly happened at 74 Springdale St. over drugs, a source told The Telegram.
Shortly before 4:30 a.m., patrol officers responded to St. Clare’s hospital’s emergency department, where a 43-year-old woman had been taken by taxi. She was treated for serious injuries and has since been discharged.
Dunne, who lives nearby, faces charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
The woman didn’t live at the house where the incident took place, either, but police say they know each other.
It’s not the first time a violent incident was said to have happened at that boarding house.
On Jan. 30, a 21-year-old man was shot in the house, resulting in four people, including a 16-year-old boy, being charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.
The three adults —Rebecca Murphy, 19, Mabel Stanley, 42, and Harold Noftall, 55 — also had their cases called Thursday morning in another courtroom in provincial court. Their cases were set over until May 11, at which time they may enter pleas.
The youth’s name is banned from publication due to his age. He was originally charged with careless use of a firearm — a shotgun — and unauthorized possession of the gun.
In addition, Murphy, Stanley and Noftall have been charged with public mischief for trying to divert suspicion. Noftall is also facing charges of unlawfully possessing a firearm, pointing a firearm and breaches of court orders.
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(Note: A reference to an address in this story has been edited.)
