This article is from page 48 of the 2006-07-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 48 JPG
A MAN who got irate when he saw the dog warden taking his dog away has been convicted of a public order offence.
Niall Considine (40), of Church Drive, Clarecastle, appeared before Ennis District Court, arising out of an incident in Clarecastle in July 2005. He pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour.
Inspector Tom Kennedy said dog warden Frankie Coote was dealing with a matter involving dogs owned by the accused, when he got irate.
“He threatened Mr Coote to let the dog out of the van or he would kill him. He made other threats to Mr Coote, to the extent that he called the guards,” said the inspector.
Defence solicitor Daragh Hassett said his client would “not fully accept” there were words of that nature. He said one of the dogs was owned by the accused and his family and the other dog was owned by the accused’s uncle.
“Mr Considine says there were several dogs loose and two dogs were picked out,” said the solicitor.
He said the accused asked the dog warden not to take the dogs away and admitted he got irate. He said his client had now erected two steel gates at his house, to ensure an incident such as occurred on this occasion wouldn’t happen again.
Mr Coote told the court he had picked up both dogs earlier that day and brought them to the dog pound. The accused’s wife had followed him to the pound and he returned the dogs to her.
Judge Joseph Mangan heard that the accused had a number of previous convictions, including one for larceny. He imposed a fine of €250.