A man alleged to have taken an angle grinder to a parking meter in St Mary’s Square, had his case put back to January 6, the District Court heard this week (December 16 ).
Mark Smith (39 ), previously of St Mary’s Square but now living in Battery Heights, Athlone, was not in court to initially hear his charge.
Normally, Smith would have had a bench warrant issued against his name exccept Judge John Neilan accepted his solicitor’s excuse that Smith had an appointment with the housing office at Athlone Town Council.
“They have bigger queues than we have,” noted the judge, who himself had a 12-page list with nearly 180 names on it.
The offence was alleged to have occurred on the morning of December 5, during which two cars were also damaged.
The judge was curious as to what size of a tool it was, and was told it was an electrical angle grinder which had allegedly been plugged into an adjacent house.
As the case wasn’t fully heard, no further details were disclosed and proceedings were adjourned until the first court in the new year.
