Two men have been convicted of public order offences arising out of an incident in which two Polish men were assaulted.
Charges of assault against Michael Douglas of 62 Griffen Park, Trim and Kevin Lawless of Fearmore, Trim were struck out at the request of Gardaí and both men pleaded guilty to threatening, abusive behaviour on Austin Friar Street in Mullingar on Sunday, September 9 2007.
On the night, Gardaí observed two men being treated by paramedics. They were later transferred to Mullingar hospital where it was reported they had relatively minor injuries.
Using CCTV imagery, Gardaí were able to identify the two men who acknowledged their role in the incident and apologised. Mr Robert Marren said that his clients had been waiting for a bus to take them back to Trim following a party and got involved in an altercation on the footpath. Both men had drink taken.
Mr Lawless, a welder who has no previous convictions, was given the benefit of the Probation Act whereas his co-accused, who has previous public order convictions was given the opportunity to pay €200 to LARCC.
When Judge Lindsay heard that Mr Douglas was in a position to pay the money immediately, he quipped “I should have asked for more”.
