A Buncrana man, who was found asleep on Buncrana Main Street in the early hours of St Patrick’s Day, was shocked to wake up in a Garda station cell.
25-year-old Dean Duffy, from Lisfannon, Fahan, was charged with being intoxicated in a public place.
Inspector David Murphy told Buncrana District Court that Gardai believed Duffy to be ‘a danger to himself and others’ and described him as being ‘unsteady and unable to answer’.
“He was lying asleep, extremely intoxicated,” Inspector Murphy said.
Solicitor Ciaran McLaughlin said his client had been ‘out socialising early for St Patrick’s Day’.
“He wasn’t abusive in any way,” Mr McLaughlin said.
“The cells in Buncrana weren’t operating at the time and he was taken to Letterkenny. He woke up in Letterkenny Garda Station and was shocked to find himself in a cell. He had no memory of the incident.”
Judge Gerard Jones said the matter should serve ‘as a wake-up call’ and ordered Duffy to pay €200 to a local cancer charity.