Suspended sentence for student with pair of scissors

A 44-year-old student on whom gardaí found a pair of scissors has received a suspended sentence.

Hussein Lwanga, 5 John’s Court, Dundalk, pleaded guilty to having an article with a sharply-pointed blade and to being intoxicated in public on 15 December last.

Evidence was given at the district court that a report was made of a person on Castletown Road carrying a knife.

Gardaí who responded encountered the defendant, who was intoxicated, and searched him. They found a pair of domestic scissors, 7 inches in length.

There are 29 previous convictions, including seven for public order, seven for theft and the remainder for road traffic offences.

Solicitor Frank McDonnell said his client was a native of Uganda and came here 17 years ago seeking asylum. For the first eleven years he was in Direct Provision and ‘ taking alcohol and getting into trouble’.

He has a partner and two children, and once out of Direct Provision he did his Leaving Certificate, underwent training and was currently studying Engineering Technology at the local college and in receipt of €131 per-week from the State.

His partner was also in college.

On this occasion, Mr McDonnell continued, Lwanga had been drinking. He had taken the scissors off his children the previous night and put them in his pocket.

The court heard the defendant described as articulate and intelligent.

‘His intelligence goes out the window when he has drink taken,’ the solicitor added. He did aspire to be better. ‘ This is how he repays the people who are giving him asylum,’ Judge Walsh remarked.

She said a fair share of his State assistance was ‘going down his gullet’.

The judge fined Lwanga €150 for the public order offence. For having the scissors, he received a three-month sentence, suspended for six months.