Butcher headbutted car windscreen in Kenagh because he didn't want to go drink-driving, court hears

A Roscommon man who damaged the front windscreen of a car in Kenagh with a headbutt because he refused to go drink driving with another man, has been fined and convicted over the incident.

Dean O’Rourke, Ardkeenan, Tulsk, Co Roscommon took his frustration out on the vehicle after an incident at Main Street, Kenagh, Longford on February 4, 2017.

Mr O’Rourke, who pleaded guilty, said he had been drinking with the man who then insisted on the pair going “drink driving”.

“Basically I didn’t (want to go),” he said.

“I was happy enough to stay in Kenagh drinking.”

His solicitor said Mr O’Rourke had also compensated the man since the episode as Judge Seamus Hughes inquired about the defendant’s background.

Mr O’Rourke revealed he was in fact a butcher by trade, adding: “It’s a dying art,” something Judge Hughes jovially responded to by commenting: “As is headbutting cars”. As the court continued to hear evidence over the Kenagh incident, it also emerged Mr O’Rourke had an outstanding drugs possession charge against him.

That occurred on October 26 2018 at The Green, Lanesboro after gardaí had obtained a search warrant.

Sgt Mark Mahon said as result of that search a “very small quantity” of cannabis herb was retrieved with Mr O’Rourke giving full admissions to gardaí during the course of the investigation.

In making his ruling, Judge Hughes told Mr O’Rourke: “There is a sense of decency in you and you come across as a good lad but there is a wise streak in you too.”

He signed off on the case by issuing a €105 fine for each of the charges before the court.