Man who 'ran out of options' given six months in jail

A MAN who brought €4,000 in cash with him to court as compensation after he told gardaí to ‘f**k off!’, spat at a guard and tore at the earpiece of another during a drunken night out, was sentenced to six months in prison when his case came before Cavan District Court.

At a hearing in July, John Loughnane (46) with an address at Breffni Terrace, Cavan, pleaded guilty to five charges including public intoxication, assaulting two guards, damaging a member’s earpiece and obstructing gardaí in the line of duty.

Sergeant Damien Galligan told the November 13 sitting of Cavan District Court how gardaí attended an intoxicated male on Main Street, Cavan Town on the night of August 29 last.

Gardaí asked the man for his name several times, but Loughnane told them to ‘f**k off!’, Sgt Galligan said.

When he was brought to Cavan Garda Station, Loughnane spat in the direction of the face of a garda and, later, when a guard approached Loughnane at his cell door, he reached through the hatch in his cell door and grabbed at the officer’s Tetra earpiece, breaking its wires.

In the course of his arrest, Loughnane assaulted both Gda Commons and Gda Egan, the judge was told.

The court further heard the defendant has 30 previous convictions, the most recent of which dates back to 2019, when he was handed a suspended sentence for assault causing harm.

Defence solicitor Niall Fox described him as a father who is the sole carer of his 16-year-old son.

“He finds being a sole carer hard at times and that night he drank way too much,” the solicitor said. “He accepts his behaviour towards gardaí is totally inappropriate.”

Mr Fox said his client was a CE worker who has “kept out of trouble” since 2019.

“He regrets his actions of that night and knows he should’ve complied with gardaí,” the solicitor said before asking Judge Ciaran Liddy to consider allowing his client an opportunity to work with the Probation and Welfare Service since he is the sole carer of his teenage son.

However, Judge Liddy said: “This gentleman has been given repeated chances and has had the benefit of repeated suspended sentences, but the message is not getting through. Now he has run out of options.”

He thus sentenced John Loughnane to six months in prison each for assaulting Gda Niall Commons and Gda Brian Egan.

“What I can do for him is to make them run concurrent,” Judge Liddy said meaning that Loughnane will serve a total of six months for both convictions.

John Loughnan’s solicitor lodged a notice of appeal immediately after sentencing and Loughnane was led away to a waiting prison van.