Gives court guarantee he won’t ever be back

A 59- year- old man charged with assaulting a barman told Sligo District Court he’d never be back after he was given the benefit of the Probation Act.

Brendan Donagan, formerly of Cleveragh Road told Judge Kevin Kilrane: “I can guarantee you that I’ll never sit in this box again.”

The defendant was charged with assaulting Paul O’Donnell at Connolly’s Bar on May 6th 2016 and with being intoxicated and possessing a knife. He also faced charges of breaching a barring order. The matters were adjourned from a previous sitting to see how he behaved in the meantime.

Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor ( defending) pleaded the defendant had taken steps to address an alcohol problem he had and has spent 51 days in hospital.

The court heard that Mr ODonnell was running the bar and defendant refused to leave and swung out with his arm.

The defendant was found in possession of a carpet knife in his jacket pocket when he was subsequently stopped by Gar- daí. Mr McGovern said the defendant had the knife because at the time he was a member of a Men’s Shed group and it was being used in connection with that.

Inspector Paul Kilcoyne said there was nothing to suggest the defendant used or had made threats with the knife.

The Inspector pointed out that the defendant had three previous convictions including one for arson imposed at the Circuit Court on April 26th 2016 for which he was give a six year jail term, suspended for six years.

Donagan told the court he hadn’t been drinking in a few months.

He had the help of his brothers and sisters and he since moved to “the country.”

“My life has come back to what it was a good few years ago,” he said.

Judge Kilrane said he believed the defendant has turned his life around and he was prepared to give him a chance.

The Probation Act was applied on all charges with the knife offence being struck out.