A 21-year-old who got himself mixed up in something serious, but that was ultimately none of his concern, has been given a window of opportunity to sort himself out.

Morgan Burke of Bunalun, Skibbereen, is charged with trespassing on the curtilage of a building at Dromleigh North in Bantry on November 13th in 2023.

Defence solicitor, Flor Murphy, told Judge Joanne Carroll at Bantry District Court that his client has no previous convictions.

The solicitor said his client was just a teenager when he allowed himself to be a passenger in a car with people who were intent on causing hassle for members of their own extended family.

No particulars of that incident, on November 13th 2023, were outlined at Bantry District Court because the defendants had been dealt with at a previous court.

But Judge Carroll did observe from her own notes that the accused had ‘kept company’ and got into a car, with someone who was wearing a balaclava.

Morgan Burke was not charged with that offence, or what transpired later, other than being at the said incident, and essentially ‘trespassing on the curtilage of a building’.

His failure to appear at a sitting of Bantry District Court in October led Judge Carroll to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. Mr Murphy said this course of action had proven to be ‘a wake-up call’ for the accused.

At last week’s hearing Judge Carroll spoke to the accused saying: ‘The probation report is not impressive.’

But Morgan Burke produced a GP letter, which deemed him unfit to attend the previous court. He also produced other documentation detailing a medical procedure that is required, all of which Judge Carroll accepted.

At a previous hearing, there had been a request by the court that he get a job, and attend an addiction treatment programme, but the judge expressed herself dissatisfied with his progress in this regard.

Mr Murphy, and his client, said he is no longer using cannabis and is on a waiting list for addiction treatment. The court was also told that Morgan Burke is now gainfully employed in a retail business.

Mr Murphy said his client had gone to stay with his father in Kerry, but his dad’s stage four cancer diagnosis led him to take cannabis again because he didn’t know how to cope with that.

The accused reiterated that he is no longer taking cannabis and he expressed gratitude when Judge Carroll said she would give him ‘one final chance’ to comply with all of his undertakings.

The accused was released on his own bail of €100 to appear at the January 22nd sitting of Bantry District Court, at which a progress report will be presented.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.