A Galway man got a year’s imprisonment in District Court on Monday for a variety of crimes – including obstruction after trying to hide pills in his mouth during a garda search.
Two Mile Ditch resident James Lynch pleaded guilty to burglary, obstruction, two counts of theft, a public order offence, and failure to appear in court.
The obstruction occurred on August 1, 2016 when Lynch was stopped and searched by a member of An Garda Síochana in Eyre Square.
After the search the guard observed the defendant spit tablets from his mouth into his hand. When caught, Lynch attempted to swallow the pills – later found to be 8 tablets of Valium.
The 37-year-old was also charged with burglary after entering number 2 Forster Court just after 10pm on July 28, 2016.
Occupants of the house heard a noise in the rear kitchen and found the defendant, who was drunk and said he’d come into the wrong house.
After letting him out they found that a mobile phone was missing. The phone and a handbag were later recovered.
Lynch was also arrested on a public order charge after Garda Paul Duffy of Mill Street station was forced to use pepper spray on him during an altercation in Eyre Square.
One of the thefts occurred in December 2016 when Lynch took a tip jar from Pascal Coffee House at Edward Square.
The jar – estimated to contain between €200 and €300 – was not recovered. The other theft was of a bottle of perfume at a Matt O’Flaherty chemists.
Lynch has 68 previous convictions.
His solicitor stated that her client is addicted to drugs but has made several attempts to get clean at various treatment centres around the country.
He has since left Galway and gotten clean while living in Tipperary.
“I’ve heard it all before,” stated Judge Mary Fahy before sentencing him to one year in prison for the burglary and obstruction.
She added 8 concurrent months to his sentence for the other charges.
