Tullow man (21) gets custodial sentence for ‘plethora’ of charges

A TULLOW man who pleaded guilty to a “plethora” of charges was given a nine-month prison sentence when he appeared before Carlow District Court last week.

Dale Rooney, 20 Park Avenue, Tullow was sentenced to prison on a charge of threatening to kill, while he also pleaded guilty to multiple other charges, all occurring in March, June and July 2022. 

The charges include two counts of threatening to kill two people and assaulting one of them at Tesco car park, Tullow on 15 July 2022; assaulting a person, causing them harm on 6 July 2022 at Chapel Lane, Tullow; trespassing at Tullow Community School, Tullow on 6 March 2022; being intoxicated and engaging in threatening behaviour at the same location on 24 March; and threatening to endanger life at Shillelagh, Co Wicklow on 25 March 2022.

Solicitor Joe Farrell said that the court had previously told Mr Rooney to “knuckle down and stay out of trouble”, which he has done for some time. He asked Judge Geraldine Carthy for leniency, but she iterated the litany of charges to which 21-year-old Mr Rooney had pleaded guilty, including the threat to kill someone as well as assault charges, public order charges and a trespass charge.

She said that although it may be claimed that the threat to kill someone could be a throwaway remark, the law says that it could be a real threat to the other person. She continued that while she must take into consideration Mr Rooney’s remorse, his probation report and his guilty pleas, it was “the plethora of matters that can’t be ignored”.

She then convicted him on all charges, imposing a nine-month prison sentence for the threat to kill charge.

Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.