A woman due to give birth within three weeks who was convicted this week (September 21 ) for possession of a knife was given the chance to start her family and had sentencing adjourned until next June.
Mary O’Neill (19 ) from 116 Meadowbrook, Willow Park, was stopped by gardaí on December 1, 2010 for a drug search when she was found to be carrying “a Stanley-type blade”, according to Inspector Nicholas Farrell.
“She said she had it because she was in a number of fights with people around the town,” said the inspector.
O’Neill had 30 previous convictions, and was attending court on a temporary release from a 20-month sentence handed down on January 26 after she was convicted of a spate of shoplifting offences whilst on a suspended sentence.
“She clearly shouldn’t have had it on her person,” said solicitor Mark Cooney.
He told the court his client was expecting a child on October 9 and had been staying out of trouble.
Accepting this, Judge Seamus Hughes decided to give O’Neill every chance, saying he would postpone sentencing until June 30 next, and telling her he would give her the benefit of the Probation Act then “if there was no more trouble”.
“I will take you at your word,” he told O’Neill after she promised him she would behave.
