Man told woman she ‘was lucky he hadn’t killed her’

Gardaí arrived at a disturbance on the Blarney Road to find a man warning a woman that she was "lucky they came, because I’d have killed you".

Patrick O’Brien, with an address at 18 College View, Blarney St, pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to being intoxicated and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour on March 30, 2013.

Insp Eileen Foster told the court that gardaí had responded to a call on the night in question and found the defendant in an extremely agitated state.

He was roaring and shouting at a woman and her son, and when gardaí arrived he told the woman she was lucky she wasn’t killed before they came.

He had 45 previous convictions. He also had convictions for robbery, for which he is serving an 18-month sentence. He had received a suspended sentence for the robbery, but had breached his conditions of release and the sentence was activated.

His solicitor Diarmuid Kelleher said his client had used his time in prison well. He had put on three stone using the gym and looking after himself. “He went in a boy and has become a man,” said Mr Kelleher.

Judge Olann Kelleher fined him €250 for being intoxicated on the night and sentenced him to one month in prison for engaging in threatening behaviour. A charge of assault was withdrawn by the State.