A SKIBBEREEN woman was sentenced to 60 days in jail for engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour.
Wendy O’Driscoll of 22 Newbridge Park, Skibbereen, appeared in custody at a recent sitting of Skibbereen District Court, where she faced charges of intoxication and the public order offence. Court presenter Insp Roísín O’Dea outlined the facts of the case and details of the accused’s seven previous convictions.
The inspector said gardaí were called to an incident at Newbridge Park on the night of November 13th last, and, when they got there, they saw Wendy O’Driscoll shouting at another person.
‘She continued to shout and threaten,’ said the inspector. ‘She was intoxicated and was arrested and brought to Bandon Garda Station, and she was quite abusive to the gardaí when she was there.’
The accused, through her solicitor Colette McCarthy, pleaded guilty to a charge of being drunk, and a charge of engaging in threatening and abusive words and behaviour.
On the intoxication charge, Judge James McNulty placed Wendy O’Driscoll on probation for a year. On the other public order offence, he sentenced her to 60 days’ imprisonment.
Ms McCarthy said her client has drug and alcohol issues and, on this occasion, her offending related to a feud between different elements of an extended family. The solicitor claimed it was her client’s house that had been targeted and damaged.
She also told the court that her client had got some upsetting news earlier and had consumed alcohol to excess. ‘She accepts she went out and intervened and that she was difficult to deal with.’
‘These are serious offences committed by a person with a history of offending,’ said Judge McNulty. ‘She was treated leniently in a previous court and given a 12-month suspended sentence,’ he added, before sentencing her to 60 days in prison.
