Enniskillen Court House, RMGFH04
A DONEGAL man has been jailed for stealing a can of beer from Asda, and has also been disqualified for drink driving in north Fermanagh.
Jason McDonagh (26) of Lawn Park, Ballyshannon faced two sets of charges at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Monday.
The first charge, of theft, related to an incident at Asda, Enniskillen on April 21 this year.
Police were called to the supermarket at approximately 11.50am after staff observed McDonagh , who is currently in custody pending other matters, putting a can of beer in his jacket and attempt to leave the store without paying.
The defendant was taken to Asda’s holding room by staff, and when police arrived they offered McDonagh the chance to pay a fixed penalty fine for the theft, which amounted to a value of approximately £2.
The defendant failed to pay the fine within the 28 day time frame.
Defence solicitor Michelle McVeigh explained McDonagh had purchased alcohol at the store on the day in question, and it had been an oversight that he hadn’t paid for the can of beer.
She added the fixed penalty fine had been “lost in translation” and McDonagh had believed the matter had been dealt with.
The second set of charges, which consisted of drink driving, having no licence, and driving without insurance, arose from a driving incident on November 12 this year.
Acting on a report from An Garda Siochana in the South with regard a suspected drink driver that had driven into Fermanagh, police stopped a Ford Focus car on the Killadeas Road.
The car was being driven by McDonagh, and the officers detected a strong smell of alcohol on his breath.
After failing a road-side breath test, McDonagh was taken to Enniskillen Police Station where he returned an evidential breath reading of 88 micrograms per 100ml, more that twice the legal limit.
Ms McVeigh said McDonagh had his partner had medical issues and he had decided to drive her to the South West Acute Hospital.
District Judge Nigel Broderick sentenced McDonagh, who has an “extensive” criminal record in the South and has a number of separate charges pending against him before the court, to one month in prison for the charge of theft.
For the driving matters, Judge Broderick disqualified McDonagh from driving for 18 months and fined him £250 for drink driving, for driving without a licence he fined him £100 and disqualified him for six months, and for driving without insurance he fined him £200 and disqualified him for six months.
All disqualifications are to run concurrently.
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