Tipperary man has three months of suspended sentence activated by circuit court

A Borrisoleigh man has had part of a suspended sentence handed down to him at Clonmel Circuit Criminal Court for an offence under the Offences Against the Person Act activated by Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court.

Sgt Tom Hanrahan, Thurles Garda station, told Judge Cormac Quinn at Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court that Jason Jordan of Pallas Lower, Borrisoleigh, had been given a four-year jail term in Clonmel in December 2017 with the final 18 months suspended for two years on his release.

However, Mr Jordan had been convicted at Thurles District Court on October 6, 2022, for a number of offences that occurred in 2021, including trespass and theft.

Sgt Hanrahan said that these convictions triggered a Section 99 bond against Mr Jordan.

Sgt Hanrahan agreed with Brian Kearney, JC, for Mr Jordan, that the defendant would be familiar to the courts, especially when he relapsed into drug addiction issues.

“There would be no issue if he stayed away from drugs and alcohol or a combination of both,” said Sgt Hanrahan.

Mr Kearney told the court that Mr Jordan was a young man and a father of four children who had a long history of drug and alcohol addiction.

“When he is on the straight and narrow he doesn’t appear on the Garda radar or present any difficulty,” he said. “However, when he falls off the wagon, he finds himself back in difficulty.”

Mr Kearney urged Judge Cormac Quinn to exercise as much judicial discretion as the court could and to take into account the issues that had triggered the Section 99 bond.

“He does have a checkered past when on drugs and alcohol,” said Mr Kearney.

Judge Quinn said that while the triggering offences were “not the most serious”, they did include trespass, theft.

If he were to activate the suspended sentence it would have to be consecutive to the sentence Mr Jordan received at Thurles District Court.

Judge Quinn said that he would activate three months of the sentence, consecutive to the sentence Mr Jordan received in Thurles on October 6, 2022.