Couple had 168 bags of rat-infested rubbish in their garden
WARRANTS FOR ARREST AND A €1,800 PENALTY
WARRANTS were issued at Wexford District Court for the arrest of a couple who had more than 160 bags of rubbish in their back garden.
Wexford County Council took a case against Jason Rice and Jennifer Browne, formerly of 87 Kennedy Park, Wexford who were not present before Judge John Cheadle.
After paying a contractor €1,800 to remove the waste, the local authority proceeded under pollution legislation rather than under the Litter Act.
Evidence was given in the absence of the accused by the council’s environmental inspector Rory O’Mahoney in support of the charge alleging ‘possession of waste likely to cause pollution’.
He explained that Kennedy Park was an estate with terraced housing and small gardens.
In response to complaints, he went to visit Number 87 on August 17 last summer.
Out in the back yard and garden of the house, the witness counted 168 bags of refuse being stored.
A ‘septic’ smell was coming from the bags and the contents appeared to be decomposing. Bags found in a shed at the premises displayed signs that rodents had been eating at the rubbish and making nests there.
Mr O’Mahoney was concerned that five children, including a baby, resided at the house where rubbish was piling up against the back door.
Contractor Davy O’Connor took the offending material to landfill at Holmestown, in two truckloads.
Landlord Philip Creane was in court to state that Rice and Ms Browne became his tenants in 2012.
He reckoned that this was the third such episodes and said he had received complaints from neighbours on all sides who told him they could not leave windows open because of the smell.
They were also worried about vermin and about birds.
Judge Cheatle formally recorded convictions and an order for payment of the €1,800 against the prosecuted pair before making out bench warrants in a bid to bring them to court.