'I had it for a legitimate purpose': Cork man contests case after gardaí find screwdriver in his pocket 

A MAN with a screwdriver in his pocket denied acting suspiciously at a bus stop and said he never called gardaí ‘paedos’.

30-year-old William Corcoran was charged with having a weapon — namely a screwdriver — without lawful authority.

Corcoran contested the case at Cork District Court and said to his solicitor Frank Buttimer that he was at the bus stop across the road from Watercourse Road garda station and he was not acting suspiciously.

“If making a rollie is acting suspiciously then if they (gardaí) go into town they are going to have to arrest everyone,” the young man said.

Cross-examined by Sergeant Gearóid Davis about the screwdriver he said he had it in his pocket after using it to open the cover of a fluorescent bulb in the bathroom of his girlfriend’s house at Westbourne Place, off Magazine Road, where he also stayed.

The sergeant said those bulb covers opened when prised by anything flat like a knife and would not have required a screwdriver.

“Did you have to take out screws?” the sergeant asked the young man. 

Corcoran replied, “That is what a screwdriver is for.” 

Sgt Davis said, “Thanks very much.”

The prosecution evidence was that the accused was acting suspiciously and was searched for that reason and that when the search was commenced, Corcoran said, “F*** off, you paedos. F*** off and leave me alone.”

While William Corcoran denied using the word, ‘paedos’, he said he did feel harassed by gardaí on the morning.

“I kind of lost my head a bit. 

"I didn’t handle it well, to be honest,” the defendant said.

He also said he should have explained to gardaí why he had borrowed the screwdriver from his father to do the job.

“I had it for a legitimate purpose. I didn’t have it to harm somebody or do something crazy,” he said.

Judge John King said, “There was no good reason for him to have it — no lawful authority.” 

The judge convicted and fined him €400 for having the screwdriver.