A MAN whose drunken antics closed The Warren beach in Rosscarbery during the summer pleaded guilty to public order offences.
Swimmers were ordered out of the water on July 12th as lifeguards, with gardaí on standby, saved the life of a drunk and abusive 20-year-old.
Tom Walker, formerly of 3, Dromleigh in Bantry, was highly intoxicated, and abusive, and refused to get out of the water, Bantry District Court heard.
Sgt Tom Mulcahy said there were women and children present and the water had to be cleared for everyone’s safety as the accused was ‘a danger to himself’.
Sgt Mulcahy said lifeguards had to ensure they could ‘safely go in and reason with him in case he drowned.
‘The lifeguards went in and put him on a surf board to get him out of the water and save his life.’
The court heard the accused was bleeding from a cut to his knuckle and seemed to pass out. When he came to, he began shouting at gardaí and the lifeguards telling them to ‘go f*** off and leave me alone’.
The accused was arrested but en route to Clonakilty Garda Station he continued to hurl abuse telling one garda: ‘Your mother should have drowned you at birth.’
He continued a stream of vile abuse and expletives at gardaí. He threatened to bite the nose off one garda and to stick a baton up the backside of another officer.
The court heard the accused has 20 previous convictions, 18 for public order, and a 10-month suspended sentence that could be activated as a result of the latest offences.
Judge Joanne Carroll said: ‘The lifeguards went in in order to save his life, and pull him out on a surf board, and then he was abusive to everyone.’
His solicitor Flor Murphy admitted his client does act out, especially after drinking, but he explained that he had been in and out of foster care since he was 16 or 17, having been abandoned by his mother. The accused spoke directly to the judge and told her the West Cork family who had fostered him ‘don’t want anything to do with me’ and he spent most of his time couch surfing.
Mr Murphy said the accused had been living rough for a while and then spent some time in the psychiatric unit in Bantry, and had only been discharged three weeks before Thursday’s court.
‘I was given no diagnosis, but I was given a prescription for my mood,’ said the accused, who admitted it made him feel calmer.
The accused has sought emergency accommodation through an approved housing agency and added: ‘I need stable accommodation.’
‘He has got chances,’ said Judge Carroll, who described Tom Walker’s behaviour as ‘bang out of order’. She remanded the accused in custody and adjourned the case to Clonakilty District Court on Friday September 26th because it is the only courthouse in West Cork that offers a video link to the prison.
Judge Carroll requested a psychiatric report and an up-to-date probation report.
She summarised her account of the accused’s actions saying: ‘Children look forward to going to the beach with their parents and Mr Ward ruined the day for them because they all had to get out of the water and then listen to a tirade of abuse.’
She said the accused had ‘put the lives of the lifeguards at risk by his carry-on.’
