A student who over-indulged in drink when he tasted the freedom of college was taught a lesson at Galway District Court this week when he was fined €500 for violently resisting arrest and was ordered to pay a further €500 in compensation for the injuries sustained by a garda.
The Galway Distict Court heard that it took up to four gardai to subdue Joseph O’Reilly. The 19-year-old with an address given as Clooneyquin, Castlecoote, Roscommon, pleaded guilty last Monday to being intoxicated in a public place, refusing to obey garda orders, and resisting arrest at Eglinton Street on October 1, 2009. The offence of threatening and abusive behaviour was withdrawn.
Inspector Pat McHugh said that at midnight three different rows broke out on Eglinton Street. The defendant, who was in an intoxicated state, told gardai to “f**k off” and that he could do what he liked. Garda Hugh Rodgers told O’Reilly to leave the area but he refused to do so and became aggressive, punching the air with his fists. Inspector McHugh added that it took three to four gardai to subdue the defendant and Garda Rodgers sustained a “ten inch scrape down his arm” which required him to get a tetenus injection.
Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said that his client had just started college at GMIT one month before the incident occurred. He said that O’Reilly had been at an engagement party with relations and had no recollection of his actions. Mr MacLynn said that one of the defendant’s difficulties is that “he had a sheltered life” and when he went to college he indulged in “over-relaxation”.
O’Reilly then told Judge Mary Fahy that he earned money doing work the odd weekend.
“That’s what you did with the money, you spent it on drink. Money means nothing... He has to learn a lesson,” said Judge Fahy who then convicted and fined the defendant €500 with four months to pay and ordered him to pay a further €500 in compensation to Garda Rodgers.
