Fines for Clon man with 96 previous convictions

A 46-YEAR-old Clonakilty man with 96 previous convictions was convicted and fined a total of €550 on two public order charges in the town. 

Denis Foley of College Road, Clonakilty pleaded guilty to the charges at a sitting of Clonakilty District Court. 

Insp Fergal Foley told the court that on December 15th gardaí received a call to go to the house of the the defendant’s father where they found the defendant drunk. 

‘His father was trying to put him out of the house as he wasn’t welcome there, and gardaí had no option but to arrest him,’ said Insp Foley. 

The second incident occurred on December 22nd where the defendant was found outside O’Donovan’s Hotel on Pearse St in a drunken state.

‘He didn’t know where he was, and he was arrested and taken to the garda station,’ said Insp Foley.

Solicitor Colette McCarthy said her client has obvious difficulties with alcohol and that he is a danger to himself.

‘He’s very apologetic and he’s pleading guilty at the first opportunity,’ said Ms McCarthy.

Insp Foley said the defendant is ‘very nomadic,’ and stays in hostels in Cork city and that the vast majority of his previous convictions are for drunkenness and public order incidents.

Judge Mary Dorgan convicted and fined the defendant €300 for the incident on December 15th and €250 for the incident on December 22nd, with four months to pay.