This article is from page 20 of the 2007-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
THE actions of a Clare man who lit a fire in the toilets of a Limer- ick nightclub could have had cata- strophic consequences, a judge has SrBLOR
Mark O’Donnell (21), Ross, Feak- le, was jailed for six months at Lim- erick District Court last week, after pleading guilty to causing criminal damage at the Trinity Rooms night- club, on September 22, 2006.
The court heard that Mr
O’Donnell, who had no previous convictions, was caught on CCTV footage setting fire to a toilet roll in the men’s toilets of the club.
Garda Diane McCauley told the court that €750 damage was caused to doors, walls and tiles in the toilets.
The court also heard that the nightclub was forced to stop admit- ting people after the fire because of toxic fumes.
This, according to the club’s man- agement, resulted in a loss of earn-
ings of €1,000.
Defence solicitor John Herbert said there was no “rational expla- nation” for his client’s actions and insisted he had not gone out with the intention of causing harm.
Mr O’Donnell he explained had lit a piece of toilet paper and thrown it away, thinking it had gone out.
‘There is no explanation for what he was doing but he is extremely contrite,” he said.
Mr Herbert said his client, who works as a JCB driver, was a “per-
fectly normal young man”.
He said Mr O’Donnell was very aware that the actual consequences of his actions could have been very serious and added that the “enor- mity of the event has overwhelmed abheeae
Judge Tom O’Donnell said it was “extremely shocking” that a fire had been started in this fashion and said it could have been catastroph- ic, if it had not been dealt with quickly. Judge O’Donnell jailed Mr O’Donnell for six months.