Cork man at court to support friend fined due to rude and threatening behaviour

A drunken man attending court to support a friend before Christmas has now ended up before the court himself, because of his rude and threatening behaviour outside the courtroom on the day.

As David Casey, of 11 Mount St Joseph’s Heights, Baker’s Rd, Cork, pleaded guilty to charges of being drunk and a danger and engaging in threatening behaviour at the courthouse on December 12, 2024, Judge Mary Dorgan said she recalled the noise from outside her court on that day.

Sergeant John Dineen said: “He was sitting in the foyer of the courthouse, causing a nuisance to people by making rude comments at people walking by.

“The man was highly intoxicated and stood up and began to scream in people’s faces.

“He was a danger to himself. He made sexually derogative comments to females in the vicinity, saying, ‘Do you want a flah?’ and ‘Come over here and I’ll ride ya’.

“Gardaí found that he had a small bag of crack cocaine, which was seized from him.

“He had to be restrained and continued to shout verbal abuse at members of the public. He said, ‘I came in here because my friend is in court and you c***s arrested me for nothing.

“He continued to shout abuse at passers-by, saying, ‘What the f*** are you looking at, spastic?’”

Defence solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said that when this evidence was disclosed to the 35-year-old, he was highly embarrassed and apologetic.

Judge Dorgan imposed a two-month suspended sentence for the threatening and insulting behaviour and imposed fines totaling €450.

Mr Buttimer said that while reference was made to possessing a small amount of drugs, no charge related to this was brought against Mr Casey.