Mother and son face jail terms

A mother of seven and her eldest son could be spending Christmas behind bars after “complete mayhem” broke out at a district court yesterday.

At Kilrush District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan jailed Susan O’Sullivan, aged 44, of Moore St, Kilrush, Co Clare, for 14 days after he heard that she kicked and scraped at a garda and pulled off his hat outside court.

Judge Patrick Durcan said “complete mayhem” had occurred as a result of the incident involving Mrs O’Sullivan and her son, Patrick Whynne, aged 18, and suspended court business for five minutes as a result.

In response to the incident shortly before midday, uniformed gardaí in the courtroom rushed from the court after raised voices were heard from the foyer.

Garda Jim McNamara came back into court to tell Judge Durcan a disturbance had occurred involving Mrs O’Sullivan and Mr Whynne.

Mrs O’Sullivan was accompanying her son out of court after he secured bail on other matters before the court.

Garda James Doddy told the court he went out to the disturbance and attempted to arrest Mr Whynne, who told him “to fuck off back inside”.

He said: “There were a lot of members of the public present and he had to be restrained on the ground.”

Garda McNamara said: “Mrs O’Sullivan attempted to prevent Mr Whynne from being arrested. I was kicked and scraped by Mrs O’Sullivan and she took my hat off my head and threw it on the ground.”

He said: “This is severely out of character for her. I have had many dealings with her over the years and I have never found her to be like this. Patrick Whynne is her son and this had a bearing on her manner.”

Arising from the incident, both Mrs O’Sullivan and Mr Whynne — who both have no previous convictions — each pleaded guilty to a public order offence.

Patrick Moylan, for Mrs O’Sullivan, said she “saw her son being arrested and reacted. She apologised. She has done everything she can to make it good.”

Judge Durcan said: “Mrs O’Sullivan is a blaggard because of her blaggard behaviour in the way she treated Garda McNamara.

Judge Durcan said Mr Whynne — also of Moore St, Kilrush — was the person who started the behaviour. Sentencing both to 14 days in jail, Judge Durcan refused a request from Mr Moylan to suspend the jail terms.

He said: “I will not have this type of conduct in any part of this district. I will not have members of gardaí being treated in the way that Garda McNamara was treated.”