A man has been jailed for five months for a spate of theft, public order and assault charges in Tralee and Killarney.
34-year-old Richard McCarthy of no fixed abode appeared before Judge David Waters at Tralee District Court recently.
Richard McCarthy faced 27 charges, dating between February 4th and May 23rd.
He faced several theft charges, including theft of vodka from Garvey’s Tralee on separate occasions in February and May; and theft of Nike runners worth €115 from JD Sports in the Killarney Outlet Centre on April 27th.
He was further charged with possession of stolen property, namely a social welfare card, at Tralee Garda Station on May 23rd.
He also faced a number of public order charges at locations in Tralee, while he was charged with a number of assault offences.
This included at University Hospital Kerry on February 4th, where Gardaí responded to reports of males attempting to fight with security.
The court heard that Mr McCarthy was highly intoxicated and told Gardaí he would laugh and dance on their graves, and would “get ye when you’re not in uniform”.
Judge David Waters also heard evidence from an incident on May 1st, when Mr McCarthy was crawling on his hands and feet in Mountain Warehouse, Tralee to avoid staff and when caught by staff he jumped up in a boxing stance and drew a kick at a store employee.
Solicitor Pat Mann outlined that his client pleaded guilty to the charges and stated there is a common thread where every time gardaí received a complaint Mr McCarthy was highly intoxicated.
He stated when his client is sober he’s a very pleasant man, however, he went through a difficult patch following the sudden death of his mother.
Mr Mann said the 34-year-old’s consuming to a level where he is experiencing black outs, however, he stated the assaults were nothing serious just pushing and shoving.
He added that the social welfare card he had in his possession was belonging to a man he was drinking with on that date.
Judge Waters sentenced him to five months in prison on a number of assault charges; five months for the theft charges, and sentences for several public order incidents.
The judge took a number of charges into account, and stated given the guilty plea, the sentences are to run concurrently; meaning he will serve a total of five months in prison.
