A man who was observed “making sex noises at random members of the public” and became “abusive” towards Gardaí after he was asked to stop what he was doing has been jailed for a series of offences.
Mark James Murphy (41), of no fixed abode, appeared before Dublin District Court charged with a number of offences including criminal damage regarding an incident where he urinated inside a Garda station holding cell and was “banging and kicking” on the door.
The accused entered pleas of guilty in respect of all of the matters before the court today.
The court heard how on the 6th of February last year, Murphy was found “making sex noises” as he walked from Fisherman’s Lane onto Talbot Street, Dublin.
After Gardaí approached the accused and asked him to “stop” what he was doing, he became “abusive” and was arrested.
Theft from Penneys, Mary Street
On the 2nd of May last the accused stole €270 worth of goods from a branch of Penneys on Mary Street, Dublin before he was stopped by store security staff.
When Gardaí arrived he became “abusive” towards them and made “racist remarks” towards the security staff. All of the stolen property was recovered, the court heard.
On the 28th of May, he was convicted for failing to appear in court.
On the 10th of July he was arrested and charged with a breach of Section 24 of the Criminal Justice Public Order Act, an incident for which details were “not available”, the court heard.
On the 30th of July he committed another instance of failure to appear before the courts.
Threatening and abusive behaviour towards Gardaí
On the 24th of August Murphy was seen in Howth village “using a barrier” to hold himself up while in a state of intoxication. When he was approached by Gardaî he threatened to “bite their noses off” while using a slew of “expletives”.
When brought to the local Garda station he was “banging and kicking on the cell door”, which the court heard was not actually damaged, and proceeded to “urinate on the floor” of the cell, which warranted an expensive clean up and sanitisation process.
Murphy has 22 previous convictions, the majority of which are for public order and road traffic offences.
On the 8th of May last at Trim District Court he received a one year disqualification and a €300 fine for attempting to drive while over the legal drug limit.
He also failed to appear before Balbriggan District Court for which he received a 6 months jail sentence suspended for 2 years.
Murphy also received a 4 month sentence suspended for 2 years for an incident of Section 4 Theft with a charge of Section 15 Theft taken into consideration.
The court heard that Murphy is currently homeless and that “alcohol is the problem” driving his offending.
He previously worked as a courier and has experience helping Enable Ireland.
Murphy’s defending counsel argued that her client’s issues arose after the breakdown of his marriage, in circumstances where his new partner has health difficulties.
He “suffers from depression” and was “having a bad day” when offending.
The court heard that his 89-year-old grandmother, who raised him, is currently in hospital.
Judge Patricia Cronin sentenced the accused to one month for breaches of Sec 6 of the Public Order Act in relation to the Talbot street incident, two months in prison for the Sec 4 theft from Penneys, 2 months concurrent for failure to appear, two months concurrent for the second failure to appear, and 3 months consecutive for the Howth incident.
The remainder of the charges were taken into consideration, with the charge of breaches of Section 24 of the Criminal Justice Public Order Act struck out.