Judge recalls how man thanked him at wedding for sending him to jail 

A Judge has told how he was approached at a wedding reception by a man who then thanked him for having previously sent him to jail and who said it was “the best thing that ever happened to him”.

Judge James McNulty made the comments at a sitting of Skibbereen District Court where a man facing sentence for failing to provide gardaí with his name and address asked that the matter proceed immediately to sentence after the Judge had indicated he wanted the man to be remanded in custody for a week pending sentencing so he could reflect on his offending.

Case before court 

Stephen Tanner of 50 Woodlands in Clonakilty had been found, in the words of Garda Donal McCormack, “curled up in a ball” on a footpath in the West Cork town in the early hours of November 24 last.

Judge McNulty heard that two people had earlier contacted the garda station about a man who appeared in an intoxicated state. 

When Garda McCormack attended the scene with a student garda, Mr Tanner, 29, was on the ground and when he stood up he was stumbling and appeared highly intoxicated.

When asked for his name he did not provide it and when asked for his address he replied “out past the GAA pitch”.

Mr Tanner pleaded guilty to drunkenness in a public place but not guilty to the charge of failing to provide information to gardaí. 

His solicitor, Eamonn Fleming, argued that there had been no intention to withhold information from gardaí and that it was more likely an issue of “capacity”, given his client’s “very drunk” state at the time.

However, Judge McNulty said the offence was a failure to provide information to officers, as required, rather than a refusal to do so. 

Previous convictions 

Mr Tanner had 14 previous convictions, almost all for public order offences, and the judge said it had now reached the point at which a custodial sentence was required.

Having heard that Mr Tanner has an alcohol addiction, which his solicitor said he has yet to address, and that he was now living at home with his parents, the judge said he wanted to remand him in custody for sentencing next Tuesday in Clonakilty.

While Mr Fleming said he favoured such a course of action, he said his client wanted to proceed immediately to sentencing.

Judge McNulty said he did not want to do that, with Mr Fleming arguing that the court may be limited in its ability to remand in custody pending sentencing in the event of a client seeking immediate sentencing.

Judge McNulty said in his 22 years on the bench he had sentenced a lot of people to terms of imprisonment and along the way he had encountered several who had thanked him for the decision.

“I had a fellow who approached me at a wedding, and at the reception, at the bar counter of the reception,” he said. “We were all there in our finery and he approached me and asked me did I not remember?

“I could not,” the judge said. “He proceeded to tell me I had sentenced him, and he said it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

“I thanked him for his kindness and we enjoyed the day.” 

Sentence 

The judge said there was “method in my madness” regarding seeking to remand Mr Tanner in custody until finalising sentencing, remarking also on the danger posed to Mr Tanner by his alcohol consumption.

He sentenced Mr Tanner to 30 days in prison, with recognisance for an appeal lodged on Mr Tanner’s own bond of €100, no cash required, an independent cash surety of €1,000, and conditions which include that Mr Tanner not drink alcohol in public or be intoxicated in a public place.

On the public intoxication charge Mr Tanner was fined €300 and he was also fined €200 and €250 for two other separate public order offences, with six months to pay in all cases.