Longford man became aggressive towards county council staff after complaint over his dog

A man accused of verbally abusing Longford County Council’s Dog Warden and Community Warden has been given a two month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.

Joe Campbell, with an address on Great Water Street, Longford, appeared before Judge Vincent Deane at Longford District Court, where he represented himself.

County Dog Warden Martha Kelly told the court how, on July 16, 2024, at 8.40am, she was driving down Great Water Street on her way to work, when she saw a small dog defecating on the footpath.

Approximately 20 metres further down the street, she said she saw Mr Campbell walking with a dog lead, so she rolled down her window and informed him what his dog had just done.,

Mr Campbell became quite aggressive, she said, and as she drove off, he started banging on the roof of her car.

Later that same morning, Ms Kelly was walking back to work from the court with two of her colleagues, when they saw Mr Campbell coming towards them.#

She had informed her colleague, Michael Murphy, who is the Community Warden for Longford County Council, that Mr Campbell had been aggressive towards her that morning.

Mr Murphy introduced himself and said he wouldn’t tolerate violence or aggression towards members of staff.

“He said ‘who the f*ck are you? You’re not a guard’. I told him I’d ring the guards and he’d get a fine for his dog defacating, and he said ‘I don’t care about the guards’ and ‘call the guards and you’ll get a slap’,” Mr Murphy told the court.

Mr Murphy contacted Garda Anthony Scanlon the following day and informed him of what had happened.

Gda Scanlon made eight attempts to contact Mr Campbell, via phone and visits to his home over the course of a couple of weeks.

“He was aware that I was looking for him because Sergeant (James) Rowan has informed him I was investigating the incident,” he said.

Gda Scanlon managed to get in touch with Mr Campbell via telephone on August 4, and arranged to meet him on August 9 at Longford Garda Station, “but he failed to keep that appointment”.

Mr Campbell, defending himself, said he was walking back to his house to get poo bags to pick up after his dog, and that he often picks up other excrement “because it’s cat down there”.

He said Mr Murphy had come towards him saying “you’re in trouble now Joe”, as if he “had it in” for Mr Campbell.
When questioned by Inspector Dave Jordan, he admitted that slapping the roof of Ms Kelly’s car was “aggressive behaviour”.

“Mr Campbell says the council workers should’ve gone about matters differently. When I asked him how, he said they should have called to his house,” said Judge Deane.

“But a few minutes later, he said Mr Murphy had come to his house on another occasion and he couldn’t understand why.”
He noted Mr Campbell had admitted his behaviour was aggressive, but “he feels he was justified in doing it”.

Mr Campbell has 14 previous convictions, with five out of the six most recent convictions being for threatening and abusive behaviour.

“This is a case where there’s absolutely no remorse and there is a history of public order,” said Judge Deane.

He proceeded to sentence Mr Campbell to two months in prison for the first count of public order, suspending that sentence for two years. The second count was taken into consideration.

READ NEXT: Critical Longford water main works set to begin with three month road closure warning

READ NEXT: Mother and son cycling from Donegal to Longford to raise funds for FND Ireland