Restrained at Confirmation party

A SKIBBEREEN man who caused a disturbance at a Confirmation party in a Clonakilty hotel ended up having to be restrained by gardaí, a court heard last week.

Ben Boland of 29 Main Street, Skibbereen appeared at Clonakilty District Court for the production of a probation report which was to assess his suitability for community service.

He had pleaded guilty to being drunk in a public place, using or engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and obstructing gardaí. The court heard the incident occurred at a confirmation party at the Clonakilty Park Hotel on April 24th last when gardaí were called to a row there.

Mr Boland was very drunk and became abusive and aggressive to the gardaí who had to restrain him and needed assistance from their colleagues to arrest him.

Judge James McNulty was told that he has 22 previous convictions, including six for public order offences, and Sgt Tom Mulcahy said he has come to the attention of gardaí since this incident. Solicitor Conrad Murphy said that his client had missed his injection at the time of the incident and that he suffers some mental health issues.

Judge McNulty directed him to perform 100 hours of community service on the more serious public order charge in lieu of 60 days in prison and 120 hours of community service on the obstruction charge, in lieu of 72 days in prison. He took into consideration the charge of being drunk in public.