A Keady man who punched a police officer in the face after he removed a cigarette from the accused has been jailed.
Despite the attempts of Caolan Cassidy’s defence barrister to apply for bail in order to obtain a pre-sentence report from Probation, District Judge Anne Marshall refused on the basis that “I’ve already given him a chance to do that and he hasn’t gone”.
The 24-year-old, from Fairgreen Avenue, appeared before Armagh Magistrtates’ Court on Tuesday charged with four counts of theft, criminal damage and assault on police.
On August 20, police received a report of a theft from Emerson’s supermarket in Armagh whereby three suspects entered the store at approximately 6pm in the evening, lifting items to the value of £12.49 before leaving and making no attempt to pay.
Cassidy was identified on CCTV as one of the three.
The following day, at approximately 4.50pm, police received a report from Sainsbury’s in Armagh alleging that a male had entered the store, lifted a bottle of vodka to the value of £13 and made no attempt to pay.
CCTV was seized and Cassidy was again identified.
On August 27, police received a further report of a theft from Emerson’s. Cassidy entered the store with a female and lifted items to the value of £29.09 before leaving without paying.
Again, a day later, police received a further report from Sainsbury’s alleging Cassidy had entered the store and took a bottle of vodka to the value of £13, again making no attempt to pay.
On October 22, police attended an address in Armagh and arrested Cassidy.
He attempted to smoke a cigarette, and when this was removed from him, he punched the police constable in the face. During the altercation he ripped the constable’s T-shirt.
During interview, Cassidy admitted to the theft stating that “he had no money to buy the items, but required them due to his alcohol addiction”.
Defence barrister, Conor Coulter, said: “By his own admission, he had gone to ground and was lying low, living in a property along with a friend – living a fairly poor lifestyle.
“All matters came to a head on the date of his apprehension by police and his conduct thereafter, I have to concede, is appalling.
“He’s still a relatively young man. He fully accepts and concedes that there are very significant issues with alcohol that he urgently needs to address, and that was the motivation behind the request for a pre-sentence report.
“Given the fact he has entered guilty pleas at the very earliest opportunity, and he has spent now over two-and-a-half months in custody, he’s had a chance to sober up and reflect on his conduct, and reflect on what he needs to do moving forward, to avoid further remands in prison.
“I would be inviting the court to impose suspended sentence.”
Judge Marshall, addressing Cassidy, who appeared via videolink from Maghaberry, dismissed Mr Coulter’s suggestion.
“No! Look, Mr Cassidy,” she said. “Mr Coulter has tried very hard for you here this morning, but you have four thefts on four different dates.
“I mean, if these all came before the court, if you have been apprehended at the time of each one, you’d be looking at quite a long sentence when you start adding them all up.
“I’m going to give you some discount, or credit, today the fact that they’re all being dealt with on the same day. Then when you’re arrested, you damage the police officer’s uniform and you punch them in the face.
“So there’s no other sentence that I can impose on you today other than immediate custody. So taking account of the fact that you have that other [four month] sentence still under appeal, that’s due to be dealt with in February, I’m going to keep it on this occasion to three months immediate custody, but I have to warn you, if you keep offending when you get out, the sentences will just get longer and longer, and that’s consecutive to the sentence which is under appeal.”
