Portlaoise Courthouse
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was told by Judge Andrew Cody at last week’s sitting of Portlaoise District Court that it wasn’t painkillers she had been on; rather, it was brain-killers.
He made his comments when a 23-year-old woman was charged with giving a false name to gardaí, being intoxicated in public, engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour at Killeshin Hotel, Dublin Road, Portlaoise and to criminal damage to a garda patrol car on 11 January at Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise.
Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said that at 1.10am that morning, gardaí were called to the hotel. When they arrived, they saw a woman lying in a bush shouting and roaring When she got up, she began abusing them. When asked for her name, she told gardaí it was Sabrina the Teenage Witch. She was then arrested, and while on the way to the nearby garda station she spat in the patrol car. Defending barrister Louise Troy said that her client “is extremely embarrassed and ashamed of her behaviour and it is not indicative of how she normally behaves”.
She said: “On the night, she had been staying in the hotel. She had consumed alcohol after she had a wisdom tooth extraction and took painkillers, but that does not excuse her behaviour. She was very much frightened by her behaviour and has since attended with a counsellor.
“There was a level of provocation by a third party that triggered her behaviour. She has no recollection of the night in question. She is shocked at her behaviour. The fright of her having to attend court … you can expect that she will never be in court again and has €200 with her by way of compensation for her actions.”
Judge Cody said: “This is another serious matter that the gardaí had to deal with, and this time with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I don’t accept the wisdom tooth caused her to behave like this. She says she took pain killers for the wisdom tooth. It was more like brain-killers.”
He went on to convict the defendant of providing a false name to gardaí and fined her €500. For engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour he imposed a €200 fine, took the other matters into consideration and fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal.
*Names of defendants in Portlaoise District Court cases are printed in the Laois Nationalist newspaper that is available in your local shop or in our online edition here.
