Casemaybe withdrawn

A charge of assault against a man accused of injuring another man in Dundalk last year may be withdrawn after the parties reached an agreement.

Rian Gallagher, (21), with an address at 9 Taylor Hall, Kells, was before the court on a charge of assault causing harm to a man at the Red Barns Road on April 11 2015

The case had been adjourned a number of times and last week Judge Mitchell was told the alleged injured party had given a statement to Gardai last Tuesday. Solicitor Paul Tiernan said he represents the victim and the ‘issues between them have been resolved and on that basis we have taken this view’.

The judge said: ‘The State may not take that view’ and Inspector Martin Beggy said the matter would have to go back to the DPP for further directions under the circumstances where the complaint has been withdrawn.

The case was adjourned to July 27. addition, Reilly believed that a friend who was in the shop had paid for the items. She had been living for a time in Belfast but is in Dundalk now.

Judge Mitchell told Reilly: ‘You can’t go into a shop and take what you want. You have to pay for the goods’. He asked if she could come up with €6 to pay the store back and this was handed over to Gardai.

The judge said: ‘To take something and then come back, it’s doesn’t make sense’. He said he would dismiss the charges under the probation act on condition that Reilly enter a probation bond for 12 months.

He said: ‘I don’t know whether you have a sweet tooth or what, but you can’t go into shops and steal’. the judge would stay his hand for a short time to allow Meehan another chance to come up with the case.

Judge Mitchell told the defendant: ‘If you are not interested, I can proceed to a conviction now’, and told him to take his hands out of his pockets in court. But the judge suggested that Meehan could save €50 a week for the next six weeks to make the contribution and added: ‘I don’t mind if you get a conviction - it’s up to you’. He adjourned the case to July 13. to July 27 for a date for hearing to be fixed