Woman sues pub after alleged mishap at Ann Summers party

A woman who claims she injured her ribs when she was knocked down at an Ann Summers lingerie party has sued the pub where the event was held.

Sylvia Deehan alleges she had been pushed by another woman who was striving to grab a prize, described “as a ring that goes around a certain part of a man,” which had been thrown in the air by an Ann Summers representative in The Lough Inn at Loughlinstown, Co Dublin.

The alleged incident occurred as part of a ladies night held in the public house, prior to a performance by the ‘Hunks of Desire’ male stripper troupe.

Ms Deehan (46), a mother of two of Maple Avenue, Ballybrack, Dublin, has sued Loughlinstown Inn Ltd, trading as the Lough Inn Public House, for damages. Her claims are denied.

The action came before Dublin Circuit Court last June but was dismissed and Ms Deehan has appealed that ruling to the High Court.

Today, Mr Justice Max Barrett was told, before the stripper event, Ms Deehan and a friend were one of several pairs that participated in a game involving bursting balloons between their bodies.

After she and her friend tied for first place with another couple having burst the most balloons, the Ann Summers representative threw the prize up in the air between them, Ms Deehan told her counsel Mark De Blacam SC.

As she went for the prize, she was shoved aside by another woman and fell against the leg of a loudspeaker, injuring her ribs, she said. She was unable to breathe properly and was crouched over. Her sister took her to hospital that night and she spent a fortnight in bed recovering from her injuries.

Cross-examined by Joe McGettigan SC, for the defence, Ms Deehan denied she was asked to leave the pub by a member of staff that night. She said she fell after being pushed and denied any injuries she suffered happened as a result of an incident outside the pub.

When it was put to her many of those present that night did not see her fall, she said it was disgusting that people had “told lies about me”.   She was “not a liar” and had appealed  because of the lies said about her. She denied drinking jagerbombs — a form of cocktail —before the show and said she had only drunk a pint and a half of lager that night.

She denied she tried to take a chicken curry meal, provided by the pub as part of the ladies night, from a waiter before it was her turn to be served. “I never did nothing to no curry,” she said.

Kim Henderson, a friend of Ms Deehan’s, said she saw her friend fall and injure herself after the prize was thrown in the air. When asked by Mr McGettigan whether the prize was “big or small”, there was laughter in court.

Cross-examined by Mr McGettigan, she agreed she had signed a statement after the incident saying she did not see the alleged fall in the pub, which is her local, after being approached by the bar’s manager.

She said she also came under pressure from her husband not to go against the pub. After she signed the statement, she said she felt sick and asked to withdraw it but was told she could not.

The case resumes next week.