A judge has commended the people who physically ejected a drunken man from a Bus Éireann bus.
Mullingar District Court heard that at 10pm on June 13 this year, Patrick Kiely and three others boarded the bus in Athlone and were in the vicinity of Milltownpass when the driver stopped the bus because Mr Kiely got into a verbal and physical dispute with passengers.
Mr Kiely, who was highly intoxicated, was physically ejected from the bus by passengers and was aggressive as a result.
He then went around to the left-hand side of the bus and began banging the window and later turned his attention to the windscreen, banging it with his closed fists. When he saw gardaí he ran, was pursued, and was arrested under the Public Order Act.
The court heard that in the process, he became “extremely violent and aggressive to gardaí and lashed out in every way possible”. He bit Garda Peter Blessing on the little finger of his left hand and broke his skin. En route to Mullingar Garda station he continued to be verbally and physically aggressive to gardaí.
Sergeant Quinn also told the court that Mr Kiely, who has an address at McCormack’s B&B, Marlinstown, Mullingar suffered some bruising because a member of the Gardaí had to use his baton on the accused due to his violent behaviour in the back of the patrol car. He sustained some bruising to his back.
Judge Neilan said that Mr Kiely had come to the court for assistance when he was let out of Trinity House and claimed to be afraid of drug barons in Dublin, and with the assistance of the HSE the court went “to every length possible when he presented himself with no place to put his head down. People complain about the failings of the HSE – there were none here.”
While he failed to turn up to every appointment made for him, he appeared regularly in the Circuit Court in support of criminals, said the judge.
He pointed out that it was “nice to see the people prepared to stand up to thuggery” and added that on a public service vehicle there are people of a variety of nationalities who had to suffer when Mr Kiely “decided to turn the whole thing into a nightmare for them. I am delighted to hear the citizens had the courage to turf Mr Kiely off the bus.”
Mr Kiely has been serving a 13 month sentence on other issues, but Judge Neilan refused to backdate the new sentences of five months concurrent for assault on Garda Blessing, two months consecutive for obstructing Gardaí and two months concurrent for threatening behaviour.
