A man who had been handed a two-month prison sentence after he obstructed and kicked out at a garda during a public order incident in 2014 had the sentence suspended on appeal at Donegal Circuit Court.
Deva Ayres,19, of 22 Lawn Park, Ballyshannon had been convicted in the district court following the incident in Bundoran on December 26, 2014, and handed two, two-month, sentences to run concurrently.
The court heard gardaí were affecting an arrest on another person when Ayres intervened while heavily intoxicated and acted in a highly aggressive manner to the officers and tried to pull the prisoner from them after the fell on the ground during the scuffle.
He was in the company of his father at the time and both left the area afterwards.
He had previous convictions for assault causing harm and road traffic matters and had been bound to the peace at the time of the incident.
The court heard that he had come to the attention of gardaí since this incident but has not been convicted of any offence.
Barrister Peter Nolan BL, said they were appealing the severity of the sentence and urged Judge Cormac Quinn to consider not sending him to jail.
He said his client was “totally out of control” on the night , adding “parental control should have been a bit more rigorous but it wasn’t”.
Deva Ayres took the stand and apologised to the gardaí and said he thought he was helping his friend but had little recollection due to the amount of alcohol he consumed.
Judge Quinn recapped that the defendant had a number of previous convictions, had been on a peace bond at the time and also tried to kick a garda during the incident but added he would “take a chance on him” due to his age, the fact he had not been convicted since and also his apology.
He said he would affirm the district court order but suspended the prison terms and bound him to the peace for 12 months.