“THERE’S no fear of you taking any bread vans again and crashing them,” a solicitor asked his own client when appealing for bail for her.
“Do you undertake not to steal any vans or any more wine,” Gearóid Geraghty solr (defending ) put to her in the witness box at Tuam Court.
“Sure I don’t even have a licence,” she replied, adding: “I made a fool of myself, I know. but that’s all over now.”
Catherine O’Brien of Osterley Lodge, Salthill had ended up in custody earlier in the year when she pleaded guilty to stealing a bread van outside a premises in Ballinasloe and leading Gardaí on a chase around the town, which included her taking the side off the van when she crashed into a bank.
Mr Geraghty put his client in the witness box at Tuam Court where under his guidance Ms O’Brien assured Judge James Faughnan that she was off the drink now and attending two AA meetings a day.
She said people were telling her how well she looked these days and told a tale of woe about injuring her hip while running for a bus.
She pledged she would turn up for any further Court appearance but Garda Sgt Christy Brown objected to bail on the grounds that the defendant had taken six bench warrants already this year.
Mr Geraghty asked his client what possessed her to steal the bread van and she simply replied “stupidity”.
Arguing against remanding her in custody Mr Geraghty pointed out that the last time she was sent to prison the State had actually paid her bail and sent her home again.
“The State may have paid her bail but they’re hardly going to pay for the bread van,” Judge Faughnan commented.
“They won’t even pay her solicitor,” quipped Mr Geraghty who acted pro bono for Ms O’Brien despite being on strike over the legal aid dispute.
The defendant assured the Court that her missing hearings were “genuine mistakes” but now she was off the drink she would be sure to turn up.
However, Judge Faughnan said that unless they got matters settled they would be still there in six months trying to sort things and he remanded O’Brien in custody to appear before Galway District Court next Monday.
