Cookstown man ‘racks up’ another jail stay for assaulting police

A COOKSTOWN man with an “appalling record” has been jailed after trying to head butt a police officer as well as stealing £114 worth of alcoholic and soft drinks from a shop.

David Cunningham (24), who has an address in Riverside Drive, admitted to the theft offence at Dungannon Magistrates Court on Friday via videolink from Maghaberry prison.

Police were alerted to the theft last month at the Spar on Westland Road in Cookstown after an employee noticed that a Hennessy gift box was missing. She then identified the defendant on CCTV taking the item the previous day on January 3.

In a separate string of offences in the early hours of January 8 police received a report from Cunningham’s mother that he had entered her home on Riverside Drive in breach of a restraining order.

Officers attended the house next door where two people denied Cunningham was there. The officers entered the property and arrested the defendant for breaching the restraining order.

They brought Cunningham out onto the street where he shouted, “You got me arrested on my birthday, you f*****g scumbag” and kicked the police van door.

He also attempted to head butt an officer, later saying that “he deserved it”.

In addition to the restraining order breach, he was charged with assaulting police and disorderly behaviour.

Cunningham’s defence counsel Craig Patton told the court that the defendant has a “difficult and tempestuous” relationship with his family.

He said that his mother and grandmother were the main support system throughout his life but that he had “burnt his bridges” with them. He is getting support from “elsewhere”, he added.

Mr Patton said that Cunningham is “racking up his stays in custody” in relation to his criminal record.

However, he says the defendant has now been assigned a housing officer who is trying to identify secure accommodation in an area to keep him away from “negative peers” and allow him to seek treatment for any issues he faces.

District Judge Ranaghan said, “Your record for a man of your age is appalling and it’s getting worse. You need to access support available to you.”

The judge said that this is his thirteenth theft on his record.

Cunningham was sentenced to six months for the offences but with time already spent in prison judge Ranaghan estimated he has a “month and a bit” left to serve before he has “paid his debt to society”.