This article is from page 16 of the 2008-08-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
A JUDGE jailed a man for three months yesterday after hearing that he hit an innocent by-stander around the head because the man hesitated in giving him a second cigarette. ‘He can’t walk down a public street and assault someone and think he can get away with it,’ Judge Leo Malone said after Patrick McCarthy (21) with
an address at 12 Pearse Avenue in Ennis pleaded guilty to assaulting a man at Shannon shopping centre on WE ara
McCarthy also pleaded _ guilty to breach of a barring order and to breach of the Public Order Act.
Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court that on May 29, McCarthy approached a man at the Shannon Town Shopping Centre and
asked him for a cigarette.
When the man gave him the ciga- rette “he asked for a second one and when this man hesitated, he hit him twice in the head”.
His solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said her client – who is due to marry in Feb- ruary – has “considerable problems with alcohol”.
The breach of the barring order re- lated to his parents home, but he now
has a good relationship with his par- ents, she said.
“He has taken himself off to live in Galway in an effort to remove him- self from the situation,” his solicitor Sr HKOe
Ms Godfrey added that her client is “aware of the seriousness of the Shannon incident and he is pleading guilty to it”.
Judge Malone imposed two, two-
month jail sentences for breaching the barring order and for the public order offence, in which he was found Gebel @percamar ele elme-beCelselcs mmm cnt: NeMmBD MEO Ele grounds of Ennis National School.
He further imposed three months on the assault charge, ordering that the sentences run concurrently.
The court set bail for an appeal at McCarthy’s own bond of €750 with an independent surety of €1,000.