Judge Dorgan said: “He must think we are all awful eejits and we are not.”

A man has avoided a possible jail sentence in a case involving a dead cat, an attack on sheep, two bench warrants, and 11 dogs — three of which were apparently shot and one of which was poisoned.

A man has been banned from driving for 20 years after he drove dangerously from Cork to Clonakilty in the early morning, crashing into a Garda car, repeatedly failing to stop for police, and only finally coming to a halt when gardaí employed a stinger which burst the tyres on his vehicle.