A MAN found lying drunk in the middle of the road appeared before Bantry District Court on a public order charge.

At the court sitting it emerged that the accused was on the sex offender's register and had failed to check-in with gardaí as he is obliged to do.

Darren Hyland (29), whose last address was Mounseys Flats, Dromin Road, Nenagh, admitted he had been sleeping in a tent in different parts of Bantry for six weeks.

Flor Murphy, solicitor, said his client was pleading guilty to being intoxicated in a public place. 

Gda Daniel Hodnett had found the accused lying in the middle of the road at Chapel Street at 11.30pm on May 20th last.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy said Darren Hyland was arrested and brought to Bantry Garda Station, where it was established that he had a previous conviction for sexual assault, an offence for which he had been given a 22-month sentence that was suspended on various conditions.

Before leaving Nenagh, the accused said he had asked the gardaí how long more he would have to remain on the sex offender's register and they told him the time had lapsed. 

It subsequently transpired that he is to remain on the register until the end of June.

Mr Murphy said his client had applied to the National Learning Network to do a horticulture course, and appealed for leniency for his client who was ‘a lost soul’ who had been assaulted by a group of teenagers who saw him as an ‘easy target’.

Judge Joanne Carroll indicated that she was 'displeased in the extreme' that the accused 'roaming around the country' without meeting the conditions of his 22-month suspended sentence.

The judge requested a probation officer's report in time for the July 9th sitting of Bantry District Court, remanding the accused on bail on condition he sign on at Bantry Garda Station three times a week.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.