Court is set to give man, 66, Probation Act in November

A SLIGO pensioner had his case put back to November with a view to getting the benefit of the Probation Act at Sligo Circuit Court last week. He had been given two three-month concurrent jail sentences suspended for two years for causing criminal damage to his brother-in-law’s car and another injured party’s car in May of last year.

Sixty-six-year-old Joseph McLoughlin, Holborn Street, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to two windscreen wipers causing €400 of damage to a vehicle owned by his brother-inlaw Gerry Finn at Benbulben Terrace on May 22 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to an identical charge on a vehicle belonging to Edmund Conlon to the value of €300 at St Edward’s Terrace on the same date.

In imposing the suspended jail sentences on the defendant last October in the district court, Judge Kevin Kilrane said the defendant had shown no remorse, was not helping himself and “was not sorry at all for what he had done”.

At that sitting, the defendant’s brother-in-law Gerry Finn told the court that the defendant had been “torturing us for a long time with no other reason than pure hatred”.

The witness added that when the defendant had paid compensation for the damage he had caused he was telling people that he “gave Gerry a few pounds as he could do with it”.

The defendant said he was sorry for his actions, but Judge Kilrane said that from his demeanour he was likely to do the same thing again unless prevented from doing so.

At the defendant’s circuit court appeal against severity, the court heard the defendant had had taken full responsibility for his actions.

He had no previous convictions. Defence counsel Keith O’Grady, instructed by solicitor Gerry McGovern, said CCTV footage of the incidents only showed an elderly man on a stick, who was not in great health. There had been on-going issues between him and his brother-in-law and he had paid for the damage.

The counsel said he hoped the court would leave the defendant without a conviction which the defendant took very seriously and had led an unblemished life to date and now found himself with a suspended jail sentence and he has serious health issues. Social worker Gabrielle Fitzpatrick had prepared a detailed report and this report was now available to the district court.

Gabrielle Fitzpatrick told the court she had worked with the defendant who, when he came back from Switzerland, was renting a private apartment in Sligo which was expensive.

He had then got social housing from Sligo County Council and Ms Fitzpatrick had known him since 2012.

The defendant was originally from Benbulben Terrace, where his sister now lives with his brother-in-law. He was a separated father of two children whose wife lived in Switzerland.

The defendant had not seen his son in five years and his daughter in three years, had anxiety and difficulty with flying.

He had a good relationship with his family with whom he was in touch every week and he had been supporting his wife from a distance.

The defendant had come back to Sligo, but it was a different place, and he needed some medical back-up to cope with his new life.

He was very much alone, his family are abroad and there are “difficulties” with his family at home in Sligo,

The difficulties escalated and so had his anxiety, but this was not an excuse for his actions.

“He is very aware that he must keep his distance and must accept that they (his family in Sligo) do not want any contact with him.”

The defendant was always a productive member of society and worked in the Swiss Fire Service and County Council. He had a lot of different jobs since he left school in Sligo to work at the age of 12.

The defendant was not able to avail of education, but this had not hindered him.

The defendant was “very articulate, very mannerly and can be talkative and that could jar with some people and probably does at times”.

There were moves to get him to move to another part of town and he was determined to stay there.

There was also some anti-social behaviour near his current address, and he needs to move on and this would work well for him.

“He is not guilt-free but he craves some sense of community.”

The suspended jail sentence he got in the district court was “weighing very heavily on him”.

The defendant prided himself on the fact that he was a productive worker. The social worker said she would “respectfully say that I was very shocked to hear of the two suspended jail sentences”.

Judge Francis Comerford said he was considering something along the lines of a Probation Act. He said: “I can see why the district court judge sought “to keep him under control.” The judge adjourned the case to November 19 and if there was no repeat of his actions, the court would consider the Probation Act.