Kerry court sentences man to five months for misogynistic threats and assault on garda at hospital
The KerrymanA man who shouted misogynist threats and assaulted a garda at a hospital has been sentenced to five months in prison at Tralee District Court.
Sunpreet Singh Hansra (33) faced 19 charges before Judge David Waters, including the theft of a €11.99 bottle of wine from Applegreen, Clounalour, Tralee on August 4 and an alleged subsequent assault. The court heard that when a ban garda came to address the alleged theft, Mr Hansra kicked her.
He was also charged with assaulting another female garda and for using abusive or threatening language at the Accident and Emergency department at University Hospital Kerry on July 20.
Sergeant Detective Chris Manton told the court, the defendant was taken to hospital with chest pain when he shouted a sexually explicit threat and grabbed the garda by her arm, leaving red marks.
Other allegations included nine charges of public intoxication around Tralee and Killarney, failure to appear at courts in Dublin and Drogheda and charges related to the theft of wine from Tralee supermarkets.
Mr Hansra had 17 previous convictions, including an assault from 2018.
He offered an apology through his solicitor to the female gardaí he assaulted, although they were not present in court.
Solicitor Brendan Ahern noted his client had worked steadily since he arrived in Ireland 13 years ago, aged 20. He went into custody in August and was initially refused bail which was later granted by the High Court, resulting in his release on October 3 when an employment opportunity arose.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t comply with the bail conditions, judge,” said Mr Ahern.
On November 8, he was back in custody.
“He hopes when he does get out, he’ll get employment and keep his head down,” Mr Ahern told the court. He added: “He’s accepting his fate”.
Mr Hansra will serve five months in prison. Judge Waters sentenced him to five months for the assault on July 2, backdated to when bail was revoked on November 8.
He also sentenced Mr Hansra to two months for each of the two charges of threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour from the same date, to run concurrently from November 8.
He sentenced him to five months concurrent for the August 4 garda assault, taking the theft into account.
Other theft and public order convictions were taken into consideration.