Couple plead guilty to drugs, theft and public order charges
A COUPLE now living together in emergency accommodation had prosecutions for various offences finalised by Judge Gerard Haughton when he sat at the District Court in Wexford.
Solicitor Tim Cummings represented both Sharon O’Brien (40) and Shane Reville (42).
Ms O’Brien’s past addresses included Thornberry House, Irishtown, New Ross and 24 Oaktree Heights, Castlebridge
Reville lived previously at 65 College Green, Summerhill in Wexford Town.
She faced public order charges while he stood accused of drugs possession.
Mr Cummings noted that the charges were not related but that his clients came before the court as a couple.
They had been homeless but now had accommodation provided to them on an emergency basis, pending a move to somewhere more permanent. All offences were admitted. In January of last year, the female accused removed €206 worth of clothes without paying from TKMaxx in Wexford, most of which were recovered.
The court learned how Ms O’Brien was found very intoxicated at the Maldron Hotel in Wexford one evening in May of last year.
Her room at the hotel had been paid for but she was arrested there after she was discovered in a sitting room, her speech slurred and in a very upset condition.
A couple of months later, gardaí called to Oyster Lane in Wexford where the same woman was seen so intoxicated she was unable to stand.
On January 17, officers arrived in Aldi to deal with the defendant after she began throwing kindle sticks and magazines around the shop when she was refused service as she attempted to buy alcohol.
On February 5, she was arrested once more as she was again discovered in an intoxicated state, this time at SubWay.
Mr Cummings noted that Ms O’Brien was now taking a culinary skills course and stressed that she had not come to recent garda attention.
A six month sentence was handed down for theft, suspended once Ms O’Brien comes up with €26.99 compensation due to TKMaxx.
Shane Reville came to the attention of gardaí back in April of 2015 after a syringe was found in the toilet of Burgermac in Enniscorthy.
They tracked him down in the vicinity and seized a bag containing 460 yellow diazepam tablets.
The same drug was uncovered in February of the following year during a search of the place where he was staying.
As well as the €2,700 worth of diazepam which the defendant had for sale, the search uncovered bottles of ketamine worth €1,400 for his own use.
It appeared that the drugs had all been imported on line.
Again the solicitor pointed out that his client had not come to the attention of the gardaí in recent times.
Reville was now drug free after completing a detox programme, the court was told.
He was working with probation staff and with the Cornmarket Project.
The judge accepted that the defendant had made substantial strides towards sorting himself out.
The serious amount of drugs involved was marked with the recording of a nine month jail sentence, which was suspended. A Ballymurn farmer has gained major national recognition after being awarded Tillage Farmer of the Year at the Zurich Insurance Farmer of the Year Awards. John Cullen was presented with his award at a lavish ceremony in the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone recently and he was both stunned and delighted to have been selected.
A family owned company, John Cullen Grain has been trading since 2005 from Ballymurn. John followed in the footsteps of his father who was a tillage farmer and agricultural contractor in the Enniscorthy area for many years. Along with his wife Karen, he opened a new state of the art milling facility last year and the company has been going from strength to strength since.
With farmers from all over the country vying for a total of six farming categories, the level of competition was extremely high and John was over the moon when his name was called out by host Helen Carroll of RTÉ’s ‘Ear to the Ground’.
Over 180 people were present to see John take the top prize, which includes a cash prize of €2,000, and his family were also on hand to help him celebrate. ‘ Tonight’s winners have set themselves apart in their categories and we’re proud to help recognise their accomplishments,’ said Graham Minogue from Zurich. ‘I would like to sincerely congratulate John Cullen, in particular, as well as each and every one of those who were short-listed.’