One day jail sentence for drunken behaviour at Asda

A 21-YEAR-OLD Castlefin man who was intoxicated and disorderly at Asda in Strabane, has been jailed for one day.

Tristan McAteer of the Diamond, Castlefin appeared before Strabane Magistrates Court after spending a night in the cells. He was convicted of disorderly behaviour, assault of two police officers, resisting police and causing criminal damage to a cell van belonging to the PSNI.

Refused to leave

The court was told that last Wednesday (April 27) night, McAteer went into the Asda store and asked for food and money for a taxi. When he didn’t get any money he began crying and saying his life was over. He then refused to leave the premises and had a three litre bottle of cider and spat on the ground.

Police officers arrived and asked McAteer to stop his anti-social behaviour, however he continued and became aggressive and began swearing in front of members of the public.

He was handcuffed and began to ‘shove and push’ against police. He was then dragged to a police car while shouting “Up the hoods”.

Under caution he replied, “If I want to assault police, I’ll f***ing assault police you b*****ds you”.

The defendant lashed out again and was constantly kicking the cell door and urinated in the cell. He also spat and continued to resist police.

Defence solicitor John MacManus said it was a “regrettable situation”.

Mr MacManus added, “He has no explanation for how he came to be in Strabane. He was highly intoxicated and no memory of the incident whatsoever. Spitting is aggravated in the present climate. He regrets his behaviour and is deeply apologetic. He is fully co-operative with the legal process”.

The court also heard that McAteer has no criminal record in this jurisdiction or in the Republic.

Imposing a sentence of one day, Distract Judge John Connolly said he would have been dealing with it much more seriously if the defendant had a previous record.

Sobering experience

He stated, “If there had been a single previous conviction, I would have imposed a suspended sentence but I am going to step back from that. No doubt cider played a part. It has been a sobering experience for him.”

Mr MacManus replied, “It has been a lesson learnt and he has a way of getting back to Donegal”.

Judge Connolly remarked, “He is going a long way about that”.