€1000 fine for man after drunken encounter with Gardaí in Raphoe

A man has been fined €1000 after a drunken Saturday afternoon encounter with Gardaí.

At 2.55pm on June 6, 2020, Gardaí responded to reports of a group drinking alcohol and causing a disturbance at The Diamond, Raphoe.

Garda Anthony Marron told Letterkenny District Court that officers arrived at the scene and spoke to the males, who appeared intoxicated. Children were in the vicinity, Garda Marron said, and he noted that there were some broken beer bottles nearby.

One of the males was Colamin Molloy, 33, of The Curragh, Lismonaghan, Letterkenny.

Garda Marron said Molloy ‘appeared highly intoxicated, his eyes were glazed and bloodshot and his speech was slurred’.

Molloy was cautioned and told to leave the area.

When Gardaí returned to The Diamond approximately ten minutes later, Molloy was still present.

When directed to leave, Garda Marron said Molloy began shouting. “He continuously failed to comply and was subsequently arrested,” Garda Marron told the court.

Moloy continued shouting abusive language to Gardai.

Judge Brendan O’Reilly fined Molloy €500 for using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place.

For failing to comply with a direction given by a member of An Garda Síochana, Molloy was fined €500.

A charge of being present in a public place while intoxicated was marked taken into account by Judge O’Reilly.