Nenagh man gets suspended jail for 'sporadic' harassment of traffic warden

A 47-year-old man who harassed a traffic warden and a council official after he had been issued with a parking ticket has been given two suspended sentences by Judge Elizabeth MacGrath at Nenagh District Court.

Rory O’Brien of Kilnacranagh, Carrigatoher, Nenagh, had pleaded at an earlier court to harassing or stalking traffic warden Arthur Kelly on February 25, 2015 at a location in Nenagh town centre.

Mr Kelly had issued a parking ticket to Mr O’Brien for parking in a loading bay in the town.

He had also pleaded to harassing and stalking Nenagh Municipal District Administrator Rosemary Joyce at Tesco, Nenagh, on June 8, 2021.

Judge MacGrath commented that Mr Kelly had been the subject of sporadic incidents over a six-year period between 2015 and 2021.

She said Ms Joyce had suffered “two incidents of concern”.

She jailed Mr O’Brien for six months, but suspended it for two years on his own bond of €500, on condition that Mr O’Brien have no contact directly or indirectly with Mr Kelly, that he was not to have any communication, by any means, with Mr Kelly.

She further ordered that he was not to go within 200 metres of Mr Kelly’s place of employment.

She warned if he breached the order it would be a criminal offence.

In relation to Ms Joyce, she jailed Mr O’Brien for four months, concurrent, but suspended it for two years on his own bond of €500.

She applied the same conditions to that sentence as she had ordered in the case of Mr Kelly, including ordering Mr O’Brien not to come within 200 metres of Ms Joyce’s place of employment.

Judge MacGrath said that she was finalising the matter so that Mr O’Brien, who has no previous convictions, would have full understanding of the issue.

There doesn’t seem to be any comprehension by your client of the implications of what he did, she told Mr O’Brien’s solicitor, Johnny Spencer.