A man who had eight previous bench warrants issued for his arrest recently had his case brought before Waterford District Court.
Tom O’Reilly (20) of 41 Grange Cohen, Waterford, pleaded guilty to trespassing while being in possession of three knives, contrary to Section 10 (1) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990. This related to an incident that occurred at Block C, Railway Square Apartments, Waterford city, on 24 December 2023.
The court heard that Gardaí were called to the apartment block after 4:00am that morning after receiving reports of a man shouting around the area of the building. The man, who was identified as the accused, was observed to be in the hallway of the apartment block when Gardaí arrived.
He was subsequently searched by Gardaí, and they found three large kitchen knives in his possession. The court heard that he later admitted that his cousins were attending a party at an apartment in the building, and after the accused heard that a fight had broken out there, he travelled to Railway Square with the knives “for his own safety.”
Acting for the accused, solicitor Ken Cunningham outlined that since the incident occurred over two years ago, his client has come to no further Garda attention. He added that no assault took place on the night, and his client was not being charged with knife production.
Mr Cunningham also stated that the accused is living with his mother, is a father to an eight month old child, and his ambitions of working in construction. In relation to his client’s previous bench warrants, the solicitor said that the matter would’ve progressed if the accused had turned up to court, but did not provide an explanation as to why he did not appear.
Judge John Cheatle decided to hand the accused a 10 month sentence that will be suspended for 12 months, as well as making a destruction order for the knives.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
Robyn Power
