Community service assessment

A RECIDIVIST public order offender had further charges of that nature deferred at a recent sitting of Monaghan District Court, after the judge agreed try a different approach and determine whether community service might produce a better result than yet another prison sentence.

Gary O’Leary (30) of Glen View Drive, Killygowan, Monaghan Town, admitted that he was intoxicated and that he failed to follow a garda’s direction at Woodview, Killygowan, on May 26 last.

Sergeant Damien Galligan said gardaí had found the defendant lying in a grass area of the housing estate at 7:30pm on that Tuesday. He was consuming alcohol, which was confiscated, and O’Leary was assisted to his feet.

The defendant was then told by Garda Brendan Havlin to leave the area in a peaceful and orderly manner. He initially walked away as directed, but was arrested after he returned.

O’Leary had 62 previous convictions, the court heard, the most recent recorded on April 22 last when he was given two months in prison for public order offences. The majority of his offences over the years were of a similar nature, Sgt Galligan noted.

“Not many lessons being learned here,” Judge Raymond Finnegan observed.

Solicitor Roisin Courtney said her client had only recently been released from a two-month sentence, while the defendant himself interjected to say he was up at his auntie’s house at the time of the new offence.

DRINK IN, WIT OUT

The solicitor said this was another case of “drink was in, wit was out”, prompting Judge Finnegan to retort: “Sixty-three times, Ms Courtney...”

The solicitor said this was accepted, but emphasised the offence now before the court had happened before her client began his most recent prison stint. But he was out now and trying to go on the “straight and narrow”.

It was also pointed out that O’Leary and his siblings were all now living at different addresses, as a result of a recent petrol bomb attack on their house at Glen View Drive.

After some further discussion Judge Finnegan agreed to have the defendant’s suitability for community service assessed, as the alternative would be a five-month prison sentence.

He subsequently acceded to a probation officer’s request that, in those circumstances, the case be deferred to July 8 to allow a detailed review of whether or not community service would be feasible.

* This article was published with support from the Court Reporting Scheme