‘Author of his own misfortune’

A KENMARE man who was convicted of a public order offence is the “author of his own misfortune” according to Judge David Waters.

Padraig Granville of 21 Scarteen Park, Kenmare, was convicted of disorderly conduct at Kenmare District Court last week. He was given an opportunity by gardaí to pay a fixed-charge notice for the offence, which would have seen him avoid a court appearance and the subsequent conviction.

Judge Waters said that Mr Granville could have taken a certain attitude with the gardaí on the night in question but instead “took the moral high ground”.

Garda James Hendrick told Kenmare District Court that he and Garda Hegarty were on duty in the patrol car outside the Square Pint when they saw Mr Granville in a verbal altercation with Mr Tommy O’Sullivan. Mr Granville was shouting “listen to me, f **king listen to me,” Garda Hendrick said. Mr O’Sullivan was saying that he had been hit on the back of the head. The court heard that Mr Granville did not do this. Mr O’Sullivan told the court that Mr Granville was ‘protecting’ him.

“I was struck on the back of the head that night and Paudie [Padraig] was protecting me,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

In evidence, Garda Hendrick said that Mr Granville would not leave Mr O’Sullivan leave the area, and had his hands on a bar holding Mr O’Sullivan against the wall. Garda Hendrick said he considered this ‘threatening’.

Garda Hendrick informed Mr Granville that he had committed a public-order offence, and he directed him to leave the area. Mr Granville refused to do so. He was subsequently arrested, and on route to Killarney Garda Station he told gardaí he would lose his job if he ended up in court. They decided to give him a fixed-charge notice for public order instead of bringing him to court.

Mr Granville subsequently decided to not pay this fine, and the case came before Kenmare District Court last Friday.

Mr Granville’s solicitor, Conor Murphy, argued that for a public order offence to occur, members of the public must be present and must be affected by the behaviour. He said there was no evidence that there were others in the area, and he said that Mr O’Sullivan was not offended by Mr Granville as they were friends.

Mr Murphy also argued that there was no evidence that Mr Granville was shouting in Garda Hendrick’s statement; Garda Hendrick had to roll down the window to hear the argument.

Mr Granville, who requested to give evidence, told the court he had come to the Square Pint because he received a call to come down after two of his friends had got into an argument. He said he told gardaí he was not drunk, that he was not threatening Mr O’Sullivan and that he did not assault him.

“I genuinely thought it was a misunderstanding. If I was guilty, I would say so,” he said.

Judge Water said that shouting and threatening is ‘disorderly conduct’. He convicted and fined Mr Granville €250 for the offence.