A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for swinging a knife during an early-morning fight in Tralee town centre.
Anthony O’Donovan, a native of Moyross who was living in Pembroke Street, Tralee, pleaded guilty to one count of producing the knife at around 9am on February 8th this year.
The court heard Mr O’Donovan is unemployed and has 64 previous convictions, as well as addiction and mental health issues.
Detective Garda Tom Sugrue told Tralee Circuit Court that the garda station received a lot of calls that morning from concerned members of the public and local businesses about a fight on The Mall.
In the course of the fight, Mr O’Donovan produced a six-inch blade and swung it at another man.
The court heard that the other man was very fortunately able to avoid contact from the knife, which swiped over his head.
The other man then managed to disarm Mr O’Donovan in what was described as a grappling contest and got Mr O’Donovan to the ground.
Garda Sugrue agreed with Tom Rice for the prosecution that this scene was a grave cause of alarm to people and businesses in the vicinity, at a time when the street was opening up for the day.
Mr O’Donovan was identified from CCTV footage from a nearby shop.
He is currently serving a custodial sentence, which he received in Tralee District Court for attempting to ram two garda cars while driving without a licence or insurance when gardaí attempted to arrest him.
He was also out on trial bail at the time of this offence, from a matter due before Limerick Circuit Court.
Mr O’Donovan originally told gardaí that the blade was plastic and had fallen out of his pocket during the altercation, which Garda Sugrue said was clearly not true from the footage.
He alleged that the other man had taken €250 from him.
Defending barrister Katie O’Connell said Mr O’Donovan is a family man with four children aged between five and 17 years old, with whom he has a good relationship.
Ms O’Connell said he has significant difficulties with mental health, and became addicted to heroin aged 18 but is currently in receipt of methadone.
Mr O’Donovan also wrote a letter to court to apologise for his behaviour, for which Ms O’Connell said he’s remorseful.
Judge Sinead Behan handed down a headline sentence of three and a half years in prison, reduced to two and a half due to mitigating factors, with the final nine months of that suspended.
The sentence is also backdated to March 12th this year, when Mr O’Donovan first entered custody.
