Six months in jail for public order offender

A MONAGHAN man, who had 39 previous convictions, was given consecutive sentences totalling six months when he pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour while challenging people to come out of a house in a local estate last March.

Daniel McQuaid (31) with an address at the Halting Site, Gortakeegan, Monaghan Town, admitted threatening a breach of the peace and public intoxication at Mullaghmatt, Monaghan, on March 29 last.

McQuaid also accepted that he failed to appear at the court on November 11, 2023, and again on April 3, 2024, in relation to earlier charges.

Sergeant Lisa McEntee said gardaí got a call at 9:35pm on March 29 about a man who was shouting and roaring in the Mullaghmatt estate. When they arrived, they saw McQuaid bare chested and roaring at the occupants of a house, challenging them to come out on the street while calling them “chancers and scumbags”.

Upon seeing the gardaí, the defendant ran away from the scene, the sergeant added.

The court heard that McQuaid had 39 previous convictions, the last being in November 2024 when he got two months in prison for threatening and abusive behaviour. He had been fined €300 for a similar offence in 2023.

In January 2023 was given two consecutive five-month suspended sentences for obstructing a garda, producing an article, and other public order offences.

Paul Boyce, solicitor, said the defendant had stated that he went to the garda station in Monaghan to apologise to Garda Craig Curran, who had dealt with the Mullaghmatt incident.

He said McQuaid is unemployed and has long-standing addiction issues.

Judge Raymond Finnegan noted that the defendant had already been given suspended sentences and community service for previous offences. He further commented that he had also “dragged things out” in respect of the previous bench warrants for failing to appear in court.

For the threatening behaviour at Mullaghmatt a two-month prison sentence was given, with consecutive two-month terms for failing to appear in court in November 2023 and April 2024. That brought the total to six months’ imprisonment, Judge Finnegan emphasised.

Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.