‘Prolonged and nasty’ incident recalled

Thirty-year-old Michael O’Brien from Coolnafranky Park, Cookstown, faces a charge of disorderly behaviour on May 3 last year.

Adjourning the case until November 5 for a pre-sentence report, District Judge Michael Ranaghan told O’Brien it was a nasty and prolonged incident and he was lucky not to be facing other charges.

The court heard police were tasked to a call of a contravention of social distancing rules by between six and eight people who were drinking in the street in the vicinity of Coolnafranky Park.

Prosecuting counsel said police were approached by O’Brien who squared up to an officer telling him to “go to f**k’ and that he was “a complete waste of f**king space”, and he would “beat his c*** in”.

Counsel said the defendant, who smelled of intoxicating liquor, was warned multiple times by police and members of the public to calm down, but he continued to be aggressive and refused to give his personal details to police so that he could be taken home.

Mr Ranaghan said it was an incident which required a pre-sentence report as the defendant has a relevant record.

The judge warned him to cooperate fully with the Probation Service and to report back to court for sentencing.

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