A homeless man pleaded unsuccessfully to a judge to jail him in Cork yesterday. The judge said he could not deal with the matter because of the uncertainty regarding summonses being signed by court clerks.
Mr Don Murphy, who is in his 20s, told Cork District Court he had been sleeping rough "in the freezing cold" and asked to be sent to prison. But Judge Uinsionn MacGruairc said he was unable to oblige Mr Murphy, who was appearing on a charge of being drunk in a public place and a danger to himself, because of the dispute over summonses.