In the week of Mothering Sunday, a judge paid tribute to a woman who accompanied her teenage son charged with public order offences by demanding of the defendant: “Have you any respect for the lady? When was the last time you bought her a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates?”
Judge John Neilan was lecturing Sean Kilmartin (18 ) from Belmont, Co Offaly who was in court on foot of his behaviour outside the 41 Club, Church Street, Athlone at 11.30pm on Valentine’s night.
Kilmartin had been abusive to the door staff and refused to leave the area, and when the Gardai arrived “continued being threatening and abusive”, according to Superintendent Aidan Glacken prosecuting.
The court heard how Kilmartin had done his Leaving Cert in June and was waiting to hear about an apprenticeship with Shannon Aerospace.
“The conduct of you suggests intoxication is not just alcohol but a combination of other drugs,” said the judge.
“People were drinking 10, a hundred, a thousand years ago and didn’t behave like this. Only in the last few years young people turned vicious. They’re next, nigh or near impossible to talk to or control.”
Judge Neilan then asked Kilmartin if either of his parents had accompanied him in court and he gestured to his mother beside him.
“The last thing your mother wants to hear is the phone ringing at four in the morning from the regional hospital in Mullingar that there’s a body there and they think it might be you,” warned the judge.
“Your mother gives you bed and board seven days a week and does all your laundry and this is your response? You’re a big man but there are bigger men out there.”
The judge asked Kilmartin how much of his €62 a week in benefits he gave his mother and was told “nothing”.
“I know what I’d do if I was your mother. There’s the door. It’s not that she might need the money but have you any respect for the lady?”
Pointing out the damage a conviction would do to any plans Kilmartin might have to travel the world and to his potential career in the aerospace industry, Judge Neilan gave the defendant the benefit of the Probation Act when he heard how he had no previous convictions.
“You have succcessfully humiliated your mum and your family in court today,” he added.
