Man who became abusive to gardai who took his beer avoids prison

A man from Donaghmede was convicted of using threatening and abusive behaviour towards gardai at a County Dublin beach in July 2013. Anthony O'Connor, aged 24, was part of a group consuming alcohol at Portmarnock Beach on 8 July when gardai requested he surrender the cans. He became abusive to both members of an garda síochána and members of the public during the interaction. O'Connor, who works as a student fitness instructor and has nineteen previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the charge at Swords District Court. Judge Dermot Dempsey imposed a community service sentence of 200 hours as an alternative to one month's imprisonment. His defence solicitor indicated O'Connor had struggled with excessive drinking and apologised for his conduct during the incident.