Man who danced in front of traffic while drunk jailed for two months
Carlow Courthouse Photo: Michael O'Rourke
A 65-YEAR-OLD man who was found dancing in front of vehicles on a Carlow road while intoxicated has been jailed for two months at Carlow District Court. Edward Dundon of 13 Kernanstown, Bennekerry, Carlow appeared before Judge Geraldine Carthy on charges under section 4 and section 6 of the .
The court heard that on 23 September of this year, gardaí were called to the L1009 local road at Bennekerry following reports of a male jumping in front of vehicles, “shouting and dancing”. He was wearing sunglasses and a hat and was stumbling along the road.
When the patrol car arrived, Mr Dundon began dancing in front of it. When gardaí spoke to him, he replied “F**k off, I’m doing nothing.” The court was told that Mr Dundon shouted abuse at gardaí both at the scene and at Carlow Garda Station, where he was brought.
In a separate incident on 6 November at 6.14pm, Garda Rafter was on the beat on Tullow Street, Carlow when he came across Mr Dundon in a highly-intoxicated state with slurred speech. He was given an opportunity by gardaí to leave the vicinity, but when Garda Rafter returned, Mr Dundon was “squaring up to passing traffic” and “causing a nuisance on the road”.
He told Garda Mullaly to “f**k off”, before being arrested.
The court heard that Mr Dundon had 107 previous convictions, including 62 for being intoxicated in public.
Defending solicitor Joe Farrell said there was “one positive piece of progress” – that his client had since left the Kernanstown area where he was previously living, which had improved his behaviour.
“He looks slightly different in appearance today and seems to be attending to himself,” Mr Farrell noted, adding “he doesn’t seem to be intoxicated this morning”.
“When he has drink on board, he is a disaster and a nuisance,” admitted Mr Farrell, adding that “his behaviour is not good enough and is impacting on other people”.
However, he asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence as it could mean Mr Dundon would lose his new social housing.
“Mr Dundon has – I won’t say insight – but knows he’s in a tenuous place,” observed the solicitor.
Judge Carthy acknowledged that the defendant had pleaded guilty and said she must take the pleas into account, but noted the aggravating factor of his 107 previous convictions, including 62 public order offences.
She convicted and sentenced Mr Dundon to two months in prison for the section 6 public order offence, taking other matters into consideration.
