Portlaoise Court judge takes woman to task on knife incident at First Communion
Portlaoise Courthouse
A 17-YEAR-OLD who ran at a man with a kitchen knife in the grounds of a church while a First Holy Communion ceremony was taking place came before the children’s court in Portlaoise last week.
The youth, who cannot be identified due to his age, pleaded guilty to possessing a knife at St Peter and Paul’s church grounds, Portlaoise on 17 May.
Garda sgt JJ Kirby told the court that while gardaí were on mobile patrol around the church while a First Holy Communion was in progress, they saw a bare-chested man acting in a very aggressive manner. As they drove into the church car park, they saw a youth “running at the bare-chested man with a kitchen knife in his hand.” Sgt Kirby said that after viewing CCTV coverage at the time, it was found that the youth had not been the instigator of the incident, instead it was the bare-chested men.
Defending solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said that an incident had occurred between his client’s sister and the bare-chested man. He said the knife was in the family car that was to have been used to cut the Communion cake and his client had taken it from it to defend his sister.
“Where was the cake supposed to be cut,” enquired Judge Andrew Cody?
The mother of the youth, who was in the body of the court, shouted: “I came from Thurles with the cake,” to which Judge Cody replied: “Don’t be giving me gobbledygook. Who brings a kitchen knife to a First Holy Communion. Get out. Take the woman out of this court. I don’t want to hear such gobbledygook,” to which the woman was ushered from the courtroom.
“His sister was under threat from the bare-chested man,” said Mr Fitzgerald, “he had the knife as a sense of protection for his sister.”
Judge Cody wanted to know: “Has he no respect for God or for man? He was in a churchyard at a Holy Communion with a knife.”
Mr Fitzgerald said: “He was 16 at the time. He co-operated fully with the gardaí. There was a genuine danger that the situation might have gotten out of control over his sister.” Judge Cody remanded the youth on continuing bail to the 26 March sitting of the court and added: “This is a very serious matter in view of bringing a kitchen knife to a Holy Communion.”
