A 22-year-old Limerick man has received a two-month suspended prison term after taking a 'Snapchat snapshot' on his smartphone of a female judge in court.
Imposing sentence at Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan described the actions of Eoin McDonnell as "devious, dangerous, appalling and disgusting".
In the case, Mr McDonnell of College Avenue, Moyross, Limerick pleaded guilty to breaching Section 6 of the Public Order Act arising from taking the photo of Judge Fiona Lydon during a sitting of Ennis District Court last September and resulting confrontation with gardaí.
Judge Durcan said there were a number of aggravating factors — Mr McDonnell was taking a photo image of a sitting judge and the fact that it was a lady judge.
He said: “It was appalling carry on.”
In response to a Garda removing Mr McDonnell from court on seeing the photo being taken, Judge Durcan said Mr McDonnell “was doing everything he possibly could to obstruct the Garda on the day in question”.
Imposing the suspended prison term, Judge Durcan said “if our courts are to function in any realistic sense and if the gardaí are to be protected then there is only one kind of way to deal with this and that is to impose a prison sentence”.
Giving an outline of the facts, Insp Tom Kennedy said a Garda in court spotted Mr McDonnell taking a photo of Judge Lydon with his phone and he was asked to leave the court.
Insp Kennedy said Mr McDonnell was brought outside the court where he became aggressive and told the Garda to “f**k off”.
Evaporated image
The inspector said Mr McDonnell “then tried to stamp on the phone so that what was on the phone wouldn’t be available”.
Insp Kennedy said two gardaí were required to deal with Mr McDonnell as he was getting more aggressive and more difficult to deal with.
Insp Kennedy said no image of Judge Lydon was found on the phone and a Garda in court explained that it was a Snapchat image and would have gone off the phone.
Solicitor for Mr McDonnell, Tara Godfrey said her client took this “snapchat snapshot — these things evaporate — in other words, they only last a minute within a couple of minutes on the phone”.
Ms Godfrey said Mr McDonnell taking the photo “wouldn’t have happened if any other particular judge was sitting on that occasion. We had unusually, Judge Fiona Lydon and such was the contrast in my client’s poor, disturbed mind to the normal vista that presents itself in court.”
“It was the wrong thing by my client to do. I think it would be unfair to suggest that it was anything more sinister going on.”
Ms Godfrey said her client has psychiatric problems and is anxious and determined that treatment therapy is there to be put in place.
Ms Godfrey said “my client apologises unreservedly. There was nothing sinister in this, the photo was taken impulsively and it shouldn’t have been taken”.
She said: “Mr McDonnell apologies to the judge in question and to this court and to gardaí who dealt with him on the day. What he did may have shown a very high level of contempt for what judges do, but that wasn’t his motivation.”
Addressing Mr McDonnell, Judge Durcan said: “You would want to behave yourself — grow up.”
