Man with 547 convictions appears in Kildare court
Image for illustration purpose
WANDERING drunkenly around Newbridge might not sound like much of a noteworthy crime, except for on this occasion as the man involved has managed to rack up 547 convictions in the Irish courts system.
In a recent sitting of Naas District Court, Judge Desmond Zaidan was told that gardaí were flagged down by a member of the public on the Main Street in Newbridge on 3 April at a little after 10pm.
The concerned citizen wanted to bring attention to Richard O’Brien (54), with an address in Killarney, Co Kerry who was staggering towards the roadway when there was “a large volume of traffic”.
The gardaí arrested him for his own safety, but it was only when they brought him back to the station that his astonishing record was revealed – Mr O’Brien had a total of over 400 convictions for public order offences ( 345 for being intoxicated in public – and 57 for threatening/abusive/insulting behaviour).
In all, Mr O’Brien had a full total of 547 previous convictions — a figure about three times as much as the most convicted person encountered by this reporter in over 30 years of court reporting.
Accepting this man’s obvious addiction, Judge Zaidan chose not to make it 548, and allowed him to leave court with the benefit of the Probation Act, a ruling typically reserved for first-time offenders, which doesn’t register as an actual conviction under Irish law.
