A Dublin man with more than 120 criminal convictions has been spared extra jail time for a public order incident when he was put out of an apartment after a two-day drink and cocaine “bender”.
Christopher Coakley (30), with an address at Empress Place, in north inner-city Dublin, was found guilty of being intoxicated to the extent of being a danger to himself and others, and using insulting, threatening or abusive words or behaviour.
He was cleared of criminal damage to a garda van by spitting.
Judge Bryan Smyth heard at Dublin District Court that gardaí were called to an apartment in the capital on a date in 2020.
Mr Coakley, who claimed he was invited there, was asleep when gardaí were called to put him out.
Garda Kevin Marron alleged Coakley was “quite clearly intoxicated”, very agitated and “started verbally abusing myself”.
He maintained that the accused was spitting when he was put into a garda van.
There was spit on the van floor when it arrived at the garda station.
Coakley, already serving an eight-year sentence for other crimes, told the court it was a lie.
He contended he was woken up in the apartment by other gardaí, and claimed they were “lashing me out of it” with batons.
Asked was he abusive outside to Garda Marron, he denied spitting but said he might have been roaring as a result of what he claimed happened earlier.
Cross-examined, he told the court that he had been out for the previous two days.
He had drink taken and admitted, “there would have been cocaine taken, a small bit of cocaine”.
Defence solicitor Yvonne Bambury said he had been irate and that may have caused a projectile, but the spitting was not intentional, and she submitted that Coakley was not charged with assault.
Garda Marron said the accused had been on a “two-day bender of alcohol and cocaine”, and he had 121 prior criminal convictions.
His past offences included burglary, theft and robbery.
The court heard he is serving an eight-year sentence imposed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last year for robbery and attempted robbery.
His solicitor said he came from a good family. But he had a drug abuse problem, went through juvenile detention centres and later was “in and out of prison”.
However, he was seeking help for addiction issues.
Judge Smyth imposed a two-month sentence concurrent to his current prison term.
