A man told Gardai that he couldn’t control his middle finger while laughing at them.
James McElwaine was arrested on October 1 at 2.15am at Market Square in Buncrana.
Gardai, who were on patrol in the area, observed McElwaine, a 37-year-old with an address at Oliver Plunkett Road, Letterkenny, repeatedly stick his middle finger at them.
Sergeant Sean McDaid told Letterkenny District Court that McElwaine told Gardai that he ‘couldn’t control the finger while laughing at them’.
When asked to leave the area in a peaceful and orderly manner, McElwaine, who had 34 previous convictions, did not comply.
“It is bizarre and irrational behaviour,” said Mr Frank Dorrian, solicitor for McElwaine.
“He probably thought that it was funny to some level. It was rude behaviour.”
Mr Dorrian said his client was a ‘quiet and well-spoken young man most of the time’.
Mr Dorrian said McElwaine was a ‘very reasonable young man’ and the matter was ‘weighing very heavily on him’.
Judge Éiteáin Cunningham fined McElwaine €250 and allowed six months to pay.