“My experience over the years tells me that these people find it very difficult to forget the past,” said Judge John Neilan as he sentenced a man to five months imprisonment for an incident relating to the Dalton Park riot.
Michael McDonagh of Belcamp Lane in Coolock had that sentence adjourned to December 16 following his plea of guilty to public order incidents at Mullingar General Hospital on the day of the riot, July 29 2008.
Garda David Mead gave evidence of responding to the incident at the hospital where Michael Mc Donagh and a David Nevin were receiving treatment for their riot-related injuries.
There had been a fight between the two men in the middle of the Accident and Emergency department and when the garda arrived, they were “pulling and dragging” each other.
“Was it a free for all?” asked the judge.
“Yes,” said the garda, adding that there were about 25 unconnected people in the waiting area, as well as doctors and nurses.
McDonagh was given a one year suspended sentence at the Circuit Court last month after he pleaded guilty to violent disorder during the riot.
The judge said he accepted Judge Kennedy’s decision to impose a suspended sentence but said he had “serious concerns that these people are going to engage in feuding in the not too distant future”.
He told McDonagh that A&E is “a sanctuary not to be breached” and adjourned the sentence to December 16, to decide if he would impose it or return McDonagh to Judge Kennedy to decide if he wanted to impose the Circuit Court sentence.
“If I suspend it, it depends on your conduct,” he warned.
