Clonakilty motorist attempted to smear a garda with his faeces

A CLONAKILTY motorist stopped by a garda, ended up naked from the waist down, and tried to smear the garda with his faeces.

James Healy (61) of Farran, Ring, Clonakilty had previously pleaded guilty in court to drink driving, dangerous driving, frustrating a prosecution and obstruction of a police officer. He appeared at Bandon District Court on Monday and was remanded in custody overnight to appear at Clonakilty District Court on Tuesday.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy told Judge James McNulty that at 6.23pm on July 3rd last Gda Joe Tippins observed the defendant’s blue Opel Corsa car driving at Barry’s Hall in Timoleague.

‘He was driving on the wrong side of the road, across a continuous white line and cutting corners and bends. Gda Tippins activated the siren and without warning the car braked and turned left into a farmyard,’ said Sgt Mulcahy.

Gda Tippins got out, spoke to the defendant and got a strong smell of alcohol from him. Mr Healy then went to the front passenger door and picked up a bottle of Jameson whiskey and tried to drink it, but Gda Tippins took it off him.

When Gda Tippins arrested him and bought him over to the garda car, Mr Healy said ‘I need a sh*t’ and then dropped his trousers and underwear and defecated on his clothes and shoes.

‘He grabbed some grass to clean his rear and attempted to throw it at Gda Tippins. By then he was naked from the waist down. He said again he needed to defecate and squatted again next to Gda Tippins and attempted to wipe his right hand off him.’

Mr Healy was placed face down and had to be restrained until assistance came. He was brought to Bandon Garda Station. He had a shower and was given new clothes, due to being covered in faeces, the court heard. A blood specimen taken from him gave a reading of 294mls of alcohol per 100mls of blood.

Mr Healy has four previous convictions, including two for drink-driving.

Defence solicitor Myra Dinneen said her client’s behaviour on that evening was ‘appalling’ and that he found the night in a garda cell in Bandon ‘very difficult’. She wondered if he had trauma in his life. She said the dad of two isn’t currently working, has issues regarding his property with a vulture fund, and has an alcohol dependency.

Judge McNulty described the level of alcohol in Mr Healy’s system as ‘practically toxic’ and commented on his ‘gross misconduct’ at the scene.

‘I can’t think of any public servant or anyone working in the private sector dealing with difficult clients who would have to put up with this kind of gross misconduct.

‘The descriptions of the events are quite disgraceful. I can’t see why members of An Garda Síochána would have to put up with his conduct,’ he said.

He sentenced him to four months’ jail on all four charges, with the sentences to run concurrently and disqualified him from driving for four years.

After indicating he would appeal, he was released on his own bail bond of €1,000, with no cash required.