Criminal says he’s only able for eight hours community service a week
A Castlebar man who was to be assessed to see if he could do community service in lieu of six months in prison has been told by a judge he is ‘a tiny bit arrogant’ in claiming he can only do four hours a day, twice weekly.
Colm Maughan (38) of Flat 1, Moneen, Castlebar was sentenced to 200 hours in lieu of six months by Judge Denis McLoughlin after he tried to cash a stolen lottery scratchcard and was subsequently found with 78 more stolen scratchcards at his home.
However, commenting last week about his Community Service Assessment report, Judge Mary Devins said that Maughan was ‘a tiny bit arrogant’ in putting conditions on his community service when she read a report which indicated that Maughan was only able to do four hours a day, two days a week. It would take him six months to complete his community service.
Probation Officer Tracy Kelly told the court that the minimum expected is eight hours per week. Judge Devins said she ‘couldn’t believe’ it was so low.
Maughan, who is on disability, would be able for the community service according to his GP, Ms Kelly said. She added that his GP said his problems were ‘mainly psychological’. She said the majority of people do two or three days a week for their community service.
At the previous sitting on June 6, Maughan’s solicitor James Warde told the court that his client’s problems stem from alcohol and drug problems.
That court also heard that Maughan could offer Gardaí no explanation as to how he came to be in possession of the scratch cards, stolen from Lyons’ in Castlebar.
At last week’s court, Inspector Joe Doherty, prosecuting, said of Maughan, who has 22 previous convictions, that ‘if he is well able to commit crime, then he is well able to do community service’.
Judge Devins said she wasn’t very happy with the assessment given to the court but adjourned the matter to be put before Judge McLoughlin at Belmullet District Court which will be held on July 11.