Man roared and swore in shop

A MAN who started ‘roaring and swearing’ and followed his son’s grandmother down the aisle in Aldi in Killorglin did so because he was ‘frustrated’ his solicitor told the court.

Cahersiveen District Court, sitting in Tralee, heard that Kristen Coffey with an address at Clohane Lodge, Glenflesk, was shopping in Aldi when he came across the grandmother of his son with his child and he started shouting and screaming.

The woman reported him to Killorglin gardaí following the event on February 21, 2018.

The court heard that she was pushing her grand-child in a buggy when Mr Coffey approached.

“He caught his shopping basket and threw it on the ground and was shouting, roaring and swearing .. that is the statement from the injured party,” said Sgt Miriam Mulhall Nolan.

Mr Coffey was subsequently charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour under the public order act.

Judge David Waters said that was an unusual way to the deal with the incident.

The court heard that Mr Coffey has previous convictions, though not for public order. The court heard he had been involved in a ‘memorable’ Inch beach road traffic case, but that he was only periphery to the incident and had received convictions for road traffic matters

The court was also told that Mr Coffey had a previous conviction for the unlawful possession of drugs and for the possession of a knife and for criminal damage all of which came before the court in 2018/2019 period.

“When all of the above [cases] was pending he did this at a supermarket,” said Judge Waters.

Solicitor for Mr Coffey, Brendan Ahern, said that what he did was ‘ borne out of frustration’.

“There was no relationship between him and the mother and thus no relationship with the child,” said Mr Ahern.

He said he was living in Killorglin at the time and this came from the people he was hanging around with.

He said Mr Coffey has no recent convictions and that this incident dates back to 2018.

Judge David Waters said he was ‘ bound’ by the law to deal with the issue by fine and he added that he has now ‘ burned all his bridges’ with the court by the way of fines due to the previous convictions and fines. He convicted and fined Mr Coffey €250 for the incident.