A Mullingar man who got abusive after a garda refused to give him a lift has received a two month prison sentence.
Asked if he would consider a probation report, Judge John Coughlan replied “absolutely not”.
Mark Stephenson of 5 Great Oaks was drunk at 3.25am on September 11 last year when he stopped Garda Enda Kelly on Mount Street and asked him for a lift in the official patrol car.
When the garda refused, Stephenson reached in the window and grabbed the keys from the ignition.
Garda Kelly succeeded in getting the keys back but as he tried to arrest the 25-year-old, he got away.
When the officer returned to the scene later, he saw Stephenson among a group of four or five men assaulting another man.
Stephenson ran away again but was eventually caught.
He has one previous conviction.
Mr Redmond O’Regan said his client was, generally speaking, a law-abiding citizen who has to learn to handle drink.
He asked the court to give the unemployed mechanic an opportunity to prove himself, but the judge jailed him for two months, telling him that he could appeal the sentence on his own bond of €100 and an independent surety of €1,000 to be approved by the court.
When Stephenson’s mother later handed her bank book to the court, the judge refused the application to appeal, saying she did not have enough money.
