A man who urinated at an O'Connell Street, Dublin, cash machine has been ordered to stand beside it tomorrow night with a placard saying "I apologise".
Kevin McCrossan (19) is Judge William Early's second candidate for his novel approach to offences committed in the capital's main thoroughfare. Last January, he ordered a man who kicked a bottle in O'Connell Street to clean up his own street as punishment.
McCrossan, Collins Avenue, Donnycarney, pleaded guilty to urinating in public at the Allied Irish Bank ATM. Dublin District Court heard a garda arrested him after he was observed urinating on the pavement around the machine while a friend withdrew cash. There was a small queue and a young woman was standing behind McCrossan at the time, just after midnight on a Saturday night, May 30th last.
After hearing McCrossan had no previous convictions, Judge Early ordered that he stand with a placard beside the same ATM tomorrow night between 8 p.m. and midnight. The placard is to state that he apologises for urinating in the street.
Judge Early last adopted this approach to offences in O'Connell Street earlier this year when he ordered a man who kicked an empty bottle to pick up all the rubbish on his own street. Mr John Harrington (25) was ordered to remove litter from Elm Mount Road, Beaumont, Dublin, for kicking the discarded bottle, causing it to shatter.
Mr Harrington, who claimed he was only pushing the bottle out of the way, carried out the work over a three-hour period, also on a Saturday night - and collected quite a lot of rubbish because he lives on a long street. A local garda was on duty to see he did it and the charge of breach of the peace against him was later dismissed under the Probation Act. A Store Street garda will be on hand tomorrow night to see if McCrossan does as ordered. He will appear in court again in two weeks, when sentence will be passed.