A homeless man with a chronic alcohol problem who has been found lying inebriated on the streets of the city on many occasions over the years by Gardai, and who now suffers from unexplained blackouts, will be spending Christmas in Castlerea Prison this year.
Francis Bohan (45 ), of no fixed abode and c/o The Fairgreen Hostel, pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Public Order Act on various dates between June and this November, when he appeared in custody before Galway District Court yesterday.
Inspector Sean Glynn said gardai found Bohan causing a disturbance in Eyre Square near midnight on November 9 last and had to arrest him when he refused to leave the area.
On September 25 last at 11.30 pm., gardai found him asleep on the ground in a bus shelter at Eyre Square. He was very drunk at the time and was arrested for his own safety. Then on June 25 last, a member of the public rang the Gardai to complain about a drunken man at Merchant’s Road. When gardai went to investigate, they found Bohan in an extremely drunken condition.
He was unable to stand and was again arrested for his own safety. He failed to appear before the court on two separate dates in relation to the above charges and bench warrants were issued for his arrest. They were executed recently and Bohan appeared before the court in custody.
Inspector Glynn said Bohan had 45 previous convictions, mostly for similar type offences.
Defence solicitor Susan McLoughlin said her client was a chronic alcoholic for many years. She said he had recently started to suffer from blackouts and was being investigated medically for that.
Judge Mary Fahy said it was an unfortunate case. She sentenced Bohan to two months in prison for refusing to leave Eyre Square for gardai earlier this month and she directed on the warrant that medical attention be afforded to him while in prison.
She imposed two concurrent one-month sentences on him for failing to appear in court on two occasions and fined him €100 for being drunk in public on one occasion, taking the remaining charge of being drunk, into account.
