Neighbours woken by music at 5am

Neighbours complained to gardaí about a man playing loud music in his van after 5am but the man claimed yesterday his wife sent him out to his van so that he wouldn’t be making the noise at home and waking the family.

Complicating the scene encountered by gardaí was the fact he had a slash-hook with him at the time.

Inspector Mary King said when Garda Patrick O’Sullivan and Garda Deirdre Daly approached Stephen Lyons, aged 35, outside his house at 45 Liam Healy Road on Cork City’s northside in the early hours of July 14, 2013, he was playing loud music. Residents in the area who were woken up had complained to gardaí.

Garda assistance had to be called to the scene in light of the slash-hook and the fact that Lyons shouted abusive and threatening comments at them.

Gardaí from a number of districts arrived and the slash-hook was taken from him.

Judge Con O’Leary convicted and fined Lyons €100 for being drunk and a source of danger in the parked van and €100 for engaging in threatening behaviour. The judge took the charge of being in possession of the slash-hook into consideration.

Defence solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said, “He was parked outside his home. He wanted to listen to music. His wife wanted him not to disrupt the house.”

Instead he ended up disrupting the neighbours who called the gardaí, Mr Buttimer said.

The solicitor acknowledged that Lyons had over 40 previous convictions and said before the judge fined him, “He is anxious about the possibility of a custodial sentence.”