Kildare woman allegedly poured petrol on neighbour's house, court hears
Naas Courthouse
A WOMAN who allegedly poured petrol through a neighbour’s letterbox saw her case briefly become a comparative exercise between Irish and Scottish jurisprudence in court last week. Appearing in Naas District Court recently to face two charges of criminal damage and an unrelated theft was Laura Tynan (38) of Anne Street, Prosperous, who appeared from custody.
“Judge, it is alleged this lady poured accelerant into a neighbour’s house,” explained Sergeant Dave Hanrahan of the incident on 8 October.
“Ah yes, petrol in the letterbox,” recalled Judge Desmond Zaidan.
However, when once again the sergeant indicated to the court that it was way too early to expect any sort of guidance from the DPP’s office on how to progress the prosecution, Judge Zaidan took a detour into comparative jurisprudence.
“If the state had the same system as they have in Scotland, where every police station has its own resident solicitor, everything would get done much more efficiently,” he declared.
“In Dublin, everything is done by state prosecutors, but down the country it has to be done by sergeants,” he noted, and Sergeant Hanrahan agreed.
The judge then remanded the defendant back into custody until 6 November, but her solicitor Brian Larkin clarified that although her bail was set at €2,000, just €250 had to be lodged with the court office at this time.
