A notorious criminal has asked a judge to release him from jail because his cellmate is a smoker.
Gary Brodie was arrested and brought back to Ireland from Scotland on a European Arrest warrant earlier this year.
He has been in custody for the past two months facing alleged assault charges in Co Donegal.
Brodie, aged 33, appeared at Letterkenny District Court today where he sought bail on theft charges.
He told the court that he has been on remand at Cloverhill Prison.
He told Judge Paul Kelly “I’m being held on remand for the past two months in terrible conditions.
“I don’t smoke but the guy I’m sharing a cell with a guy who smokes.
“I’m being forced to sleep on the floor on a mattress. I’m being treated like an old dog. I wouldn’t keep my dog in those conditions.”
However, Detective Garda Michael Galvin told the court that he was objecting to the bail application.
He said the alleged assault cases involved a situation where a man was allegedly stabbed with a broken bottle and received serious injuries.
He said he felt that Brodie was a flight risk and that the seriousness of the offences meant that Brodie should not be given bail.
Brodie had claimed that he has an address of a former prison friend in Crumlin in Dublin which he could stay at if he was released on bail.
He is due to appear before Letterkenny Circuit Court on alleged assault charges in Donegal on December 5th next.
Brodie had resisted extradition from Scotland earlier this year claiming that the IRA “would kill him”.
Brodie claimed he fled Ireland in 2009 after he was warned by an IRA that he had 24 hours to leave or he would be killed.
Brodie feared that he would end up like his father William, who is thought to have been murdered by the IRA after disappearing in 1994.
At another preliminary court hearing earlier this year in Scotland Brodie spat at court sheriff officials and branded them, “Fenian ba****ds.”
At Letterkenny District Court yesterday, Judge Paul Kelly said he was refusing a bail application on separate charges of theft against Brodie.
He said the seriousness of the cases against Brodie and also his bail history.
Brodie asked the court if he could be remanded back to Castlerea Prison and wardens told Judge Kelly that he will be transferred back there.