Cork man given suspended sentence for setting off firework

A young man who set off a firework outside a shop in Mitchelstown has been given a one-year suspended jail term.

Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed that sentence on 20-year-old Alex O’Donnell of Cloonkilla, Mitchelstown, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The charge to which he pleaded guilty was of setting off a firework in a public thoroughfare.

Detective Garda John Murphy said the incident occurred on October 12, 2023, at New Square, Mitchelstown.

Gardaí on duty in the town that night heard a loud bang.

On investigation it was found to have come from the footpath outside Spar. A lighting firework giving off smoke had been thrown down.

Prosecution barrister Donal McCarthy said it was an intrinsic part of the offence that it was committed in an area where people were going about their business.

Judge Sheehan said it was a serious matter that could attract a headline sentence of two to three years but that in the circumstances of the defendant’s age and absence of relevant previous convictions, he would set this at one year and suspend it in its entirety.