A 42-year-old man from Dublin has been fined €400 after threatening to trash a Paddy Power store. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
alcoholism
A Dublin man has pleaded guilty to abusive behavior towards a police officer and threatening to smash up a betting shop.
Threatening to break a supermarket employee’s legs
On November 21, 2022, Stephen Conroy, who was intoxicated, allegedly told the officer he was a trained boxer and that he was “going to knock him out” after he threatened to break a supermarket employee’s legs. According to his defense team, Conroy suffered from alcohol addiction and was “very deep” in it.
When he appeared at Dublin District Court, Conroy was fined €400 ($420).
What happened
According to Garda Sergeant Michael Lynch, police were called to a Tesco Express where they found Conroy drunk and abusive.
When contacted, he refused to give his details, including his name and place of residence. When he did so, Conroy allegedly swore at police and tried to drive them away. One employee claimed that Conroy said he was “going to break his legs.”
A few weeks later, on December 15, Conroy threatened police when they approached him while he was “extremely intoxicated.”
“He threatened the police that he would fire him, because he is a trained boxer.”
According to Sergeant Lynch: “He said he was going to smash Paddy Powers because he wanted his money back. He threatened the police that he would knock him out, because he was a trained boxer.”
His defense claimed that at the time of the events, over a period of six months, Conroy had suffered the loss of his family and had left the family home. As a result, he used alcohol as a means of escape.
Conroy has since cleaned up, detoxified himself, and apologized for his behavior.
