Derry man prohibited from drinking alcohol asks to be granted bail to meet his family for dinner at Wetherspoons
A 54-year-old man previously prohibited from drinking alcohol has requested bail to meet his family for dinner at Wetherspoons, at Derry Magistrates Court.
Patrick Farren, of Stoneburn Place in Derry, appeared at court charged with new offences of disorderly behaviour, criminal damage and assault on police from the weekend.
He also had three other matters on the court list for disorderly behaviour.
Defence counsel Catherine Devlin said her client has ‘no memory’ of the incidents from the weekend.
She asked for him to be granted bail to meet his wife and children for dinner at Wetherspoons.
District Judge Barney McElholm said it was on licensed premises and ‘could all go very wrong’.
A police officer told the court that at 9pm Farren’s neighbours reported he had been ‘kicking their doors’.
When police arrived, he was sitting on a wall outside him home with a can of beer in his hand, and once arrested, began ‘shouting and swearing’ at them.
He refused a preliminary breath test, however, police believed he was intoxicated which amounted to a breach of bail for being intoxicated in a public place.
Farren was then further arrested for kicking a police vehicle and spitting on an officer.
Ms Devlin said it was another ‘low level incident’ in which Farren made a ‘nuisance of himself’, and he ‘never’ poses a ‘serious threat to the public’.
The defence barrister said she was asking for bail to allow these matters to be dealt with along with the others on Friday, March 10.
Judge McElholm said there has been a ‘catalogue of offending’ and whilst one can say they are at a low level, ‘I can only imagine what kind of hell it is living beside him.’
He added, it does not make for ‘an appealing vista’ and ‘if he takes drink he will commit further offences’.
Refusing bail, he said: “Does he want me to permit him to go on a drinking spree with his family in Wetherspoons.”
Farren will be sentenced for all matters on March 10.