Court told man only ‘wanted a cigarette’

JUDGE David Waters warned a man who pleaded guilty to acting in a threatening and abusive manner that he would jail him should he come to attention again.

Instead, Philip O’Gorman of Farrwannah, Tarbert was given a two-month sentence, suspended for two years, by the Judge at a sitting of Listowel District Court on Thursday, February 6 last.

Mr O’Gorman pleaded guilty to the charge, but the court heard that it was not his intention to create a public-order disturbance through his actions on the night of November 23 of last year on the Bridge Road in Listowel. Gardaí told the Court that they got a report of a disturbance on the Bridge Road on the night and discovered Mr O’Gorman in a ‘ highly intoxicated’ state on their arrival. They said he was directed to leave the area and that he did initially walk away.

However, he then walked back to the house at the focus of the disturbance report and started banging on the windows. The Court heard that Mr O’Gorman previously received two four-month suspended sentences from Listowel District Court in 2017.

Solicitor Michael Lane told the Judge that his client had been at his partner’s sister’s house, and on the occasion had knocked on the window: “He was looking for a cigarette; it was not his intention to create a disturbance.”

Judge Waters said his difficulty was that he could not keep giving the defendant suspended sentences, but accepted the incident was not the ‘worst’ – imposing the suspended sentence.

UNSTINTING positivity played a massive part in Asdee man Con Carmody’s recovery from oesophageal cancer.

And it was positivity of a similar nature that was beamed back at Con by the entire community around him at a table quiz in Jack J’s in January.

Organised by Con and his family – including wife, Kathleen; and children Con Jnr, Sarah Jane and Catherine – it was held in aid of vital charity Comfort for Chemo and its campaign to improve chemotherapy services at University Hospital Kerry.

Such was the turn out in response to Con’s appeal locally that Jack J’s was packed solid – and it resulted in the presentation of a cheque last week to Comfort for Chemo of no less than €6,000.

Comfort for Chemo founder Mary Fitzgerald and committee member Amanda Coulson were blown away by the big-hearted gesture by Asdee in gratitude for Con’s great news. They were only too delighted to receive the generous cheque back in Jack J’s last week as Con thanked everyone in the community for coming out in such a strong show of support.

Comfort for Chemo was set up last year to campaign for the building of a specialised unit on the grounds of UHK, complete with new chemo suites, isolation facilities, an out-patient unit and many other services expected of 21st- Century oncological care.