A man who was arrested in Mullingar on St Stephen’s Day is contesting public order charges from that night.
The case of Conor Farrell (24 ) of Grange Crescent was adjourned for three weeks for details of the incident to be forwarded to his solicitor for hearing.
He is charged with drunkenness, threatening behaviour, failing to leave the scene, and obstruction of gardaí in their duty on Stephen’s Day.
Inspector Jarlath Folan gave an outline of the incidents to the court, and said that on St Stephen’s Day at around 10.20pm, gardaí received a number of calls about a young man’s behaviour and condition from a number of pubs where he had altercations with staff.
At 9.10pm Farrell allegedly stood on the street in front of a patrol car and stopped traffic on the road to complain that he had been refused entry to pubs in the town.
Gardaí advised him to leave the area and he did, but at 10.15pm officers were called to a hotel where there was another reported incident with staff.
By the time gardaí arrived Farrell had left, but Inspector Folan said they were stopped on the street again by pub staff at another location, where Farrell was allegedly causing a disturbance.
Inspector Folan said gardaí came across Farrell on Pearse Street where he was aggressive and again stood in the middle of the road, but was pulled back by a woman who was with him.
He swore at gardaí and was aggressive, the inspector said, and when he was arrested for drunkenness, threatening behaviour, and failing to leave the scene, he resisted gardaí.
Four officers were allegedly required to handcuff him and he continued to resist as he was placed in the patrol car.
The inspector said gardaí will allege he attempted to head-butt them and kicked out at their legs.
He is reported to have told one garda that he would bite him if he didn’t leave him alone.
Despite hearing an outline of evidence in the case against him, Farrell did not initially want to give his solicitor instructions to deal with the case immediately, and instead requested statements.
When pressed by the judge, Farrell indicated that he will plead not guilty and the case was adjourned to January 23 for hearing.
An application for legal aid was made but Judge Hughes adjourned that application until the next date because application forms were not complete.
