Visitor who kicked in windows must pay €1,000 or go to jail

A FRENCH man who arrived in Wexford Town and kicked in a series of shop window panels was told that he must pay compensation before returning home.

Dmitri Mathé from Cherbourg was brought before Judge Brian O’Shea on public order and criminal damage charges.

The District Court was told how the defendant was arrested for being drunk in public on January 12. He was released the following morning and was then seen shortly afterwards kicking in one window.

After he was re-arrested, it turned out that he had attacked six window panels in this way, leaving them cracked and in need of replacement.

The bill was estimated to amount to around €600, as reckoned by Sergeant Victor Isdell.

Defending solicitor Tim Cummings said that Mathé was down on his luck, out of work and depressed.

He had come to Ireland by ferry and drunk a bottle of brandy at the hotel where he was staying. He began kicking out because he believed that gardaí had not returned his bag when he was released. However, the bag was later found where he had left it on a bench.

‘He is not going anywhere until he pays compensation,’ declared the judge.

The court observed that it was outrageously illogical and disrespectful of the defendant to travel to Ireland and do what he did through a fog of intoxication. Judge O’Shea set a three month prison sentence for criminal damage, the term to be suspended once €1,000 is paid.

However, Mr Cummings advised the court that Mathé was not a man of means.