This article is from page 17 of the 2008-12-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
A MAN who had a screwdriver in- side his hoodie told gardai he did not know it was there, a court has heard.
Mark Mounsey (26), of Gordon Drive, Ennis, denied a charge of pos- session of an article.
Garda Barry O’Grady told Ennis District Court that he was on patrol at Cloughleigh Road, Ennis, on Au- gust 31 last.
He observed a silver car with three men in it. The accused, he said, was sitting in the back seat and appeared
nervous.
He said he searched him at Ennis Garda Station and found a screw- driver inside the hoodie top he was wearing.
“He said he didn’t know it was there,” said the garda.
Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client lives across the road from where he met the garda.
He said he met two friends outside the local shop and sat into the back of the car. Mr Hassett said his cli- ent was searched at Cloughleigh and not at the garda station. However the
garda said this was not the case.
The solicitor said this incident hap- pened at 1.05pm, in daylight hours. Mr Mounsey told the court he had the screwdriver in his top “because I was changing a lock on my bedroom door.”
Mr Hassett submitted to the court that there was “nothing untoward” in relation to the possession of the screwdriver.
‘The reasonable doubt in this case must lie with the defence,’ he said.
Judge Leo Malone dismissed the charge.