Man tried to urinate on female garda, Kildare court hears
Photo for illustrative purposes only
“OH, that’s a no, no, no!” said a clearly disgusted judge to a man who tried to urinate on a female garda in the back of a squad car following his arrest. The man was eventually jailed for a total of 14 months when the full depths of his subsequent deceptions was added to this.
The defendant’s name was finally established in Naas District Court recently as Forevermore Mpofu, with an address at the IPAS Centre in Kilbride Army Camp in Blessington. However, when arrested on 10 October at Moorefield Park in Newbridge, he gave the name of Mohammed Abde, to which five of his charges were initially attributed.
He also gave three different dates of birth, which put his age at somewhere between 34 and 26, a discrepancy which was not further clarified by the court.
Mr Mpofu appeared by videolink from custody where he had been kept since his arrest because of his immigration status, a circumstance that was compounded by his subsequent deceptions.
Sergeant Mary Meade began proceedings by asking Judge Desmond Zaidan to amend the first five names on the court list from ‘Mohammed Abde’ to ‘Forevermore Mpofu’.
“We are satisfied his name is Forevermore,” said Sgt Meade with the straightest face imaginable.
“You’re not making this up?” asked an incredulous Judge Zaidan.
“No, judge,” Sgt Meade assured him, before informing the court that the DPP had directed that the case be dealt with by ‘summary disposal’, that is, in the district court.
Mr Mpofu’s solicitor Brian Larkin began by addressing his client on the screen. “The first time we talked I remember you said you wanted to plead guilty. Is that still the case?” he asked.
“Yes, that is true,” replied the defendant.
“He’s not a bad fella, judge, just in a bad place, but he has no previous convictions,” Mr Larkin began explaining.
“A couple of shopliftings,” noted the judge, reading the first few charge sheets before him.
“He has pleaded guilty and elected for this court,” said Mr Larkin, before Sgt Meade stood and began explaining the crux of the case.
“Judge, gardaí were on patrol on Moorefield Road on 10 October when they saw a man staggering out into the road,” she said. “When he was arrested for his own safety, he gave his name as Mohammed Abde.”
“But the manner and nature of the facts are at the upper end for this court: you were not in control of your mind with dangerous intoxicants,” said the judge, beginning to read the further sheaf of charges.
“You were seen urinating in public, and when arrested and beside a female garda in the squad car, you urinated again and tried to splash it over her,” noted the judge.
“Oh, that’s a no, no, no!” said the judge, shaking his head. “That’s the sort of behaviour that will attract a custodial sentence.
“I was going to give you two years, but because of what Mr Larkin said, I’ll sentence you to seven months in prison for the criminal damage to the squad car, and a further seven months [consecutive] for the breach of the .”
The judge did, however, backdate the start of the sentence to 12 October, the date that Mr Mpofu was first refused bail, and set an appeal bond of €500.
Mr Mpofu was also convicted of being drunk in public, threatening and abusive behaviour, failure to produce a valid ID, possession of stolen goods and three counts of various, unspecified shoplifting, all of which were taken into consideration.
