An ESB bill which was thrown away in a pile of rubbish that was illegally dumped in the Carrowmore area led to the appearance of a Ballina man at Ballina District Court this week.
Litter warden Josephine Armstrong told Ballina District Court that on January 4 she found evidence of illegal littering on a public road near Knockmore. Ms Armstrong said that the bulk of the rubbish was domestic waste, which was scattered on the road. A bill addressed to Jonathan Morrell, 5 St Muredach’s Terrace, Ballina was discovered, as was a letter from the county council to an unnamed person at Muredach’s Terrace, asking what the householder was doing about their waste.
Morrell (29 ), who has no previous convictions, later tidied up the litter. He told the court that he brought the rubbish to the local dump, but did not have a receipt from the dump in court to prove this. His explanation as to why his rubbish was found on the road was that he gave his rubbish to a person who was collecting rubbish from houses after Christmas and did not realise that it would be illegally disposed of.
Judge Mary Devins adjourned the case to October 20 for the production of the receipt as this receipt would be taken into account in relation to the amount of money the defendant would have to pay towards costs.
