‘If he can afford to drink, he can afford to pay fines’

A MAN who climbed in the window of a hostel in Cork landed in the en-suite of a bedroom but he was so hopelessly drunk he could not get out of the toilet.

The resident of the room alerted the night manager of the Glenvera Hostel on Wellington Road, who called the gardaí.

Garda Tim Walsh said yesterday that the culprit, Atis Elksnitis, aged 38, who lives in an apartment at Rockgrove Terrace, Lower Glanmire Road, Cork, was so drunk he could not speak or move.

After his arrest Elksnitis could not be interviewed by gardaí because of his level of intoxication.

When he sobered up he could not remember a thing about the incident and could offer no explanation for why he climbed in the window.

Elksnitis pleaded guilty yesterday at Cork District Court to a charge of trespassing in a manner which was likely to cause fear.

Donal Daly, solicitor, said the defendant was not charged with burglary as there was no intention to take anything.

Mr Daly said Elksnitis met an old friend that day, December 12, 2010, and he went drinking with him and drank far too much.

Elksnitis also pleaded guilty to being drunk and a source of danger and being threatening arising out of an incident on Lower Glanmire Road, Cork, on May 19.

Judge Aingil Ní Chondúin fined him a total of €450 on the charges.

“If he can afford to drink, he can afford to pay the fines,” the judge said.