Man found with kitchen knife in his backpack during search by Mayo garda

A MAN who was stopped and searched when he drew the attention of a garda at Station Road in Castlebar was found to be in possession of a kitchen knife.

Marouan Dalyouni, with an address at 2 Gardiner Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to being in possession of the knife contrary to Section 9 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act when he appeared before Judge Sandra Murphy at Castlebar District Court.

The defendant also pleaded guilty to failing to give his name and address.

The court heard that the defendant was walking at Station Road, Castlebar, on September 18 last when the attention of Garda Liam Dever was drawn to him.

Garda Dever approached the defendant who had a backpack.

A search of the backpack revealed a sharp kitchen knife with a four-inch blade.

The court also heard a weighing scales had also been found in the defendant’s back-pack.

Mr. Gary Mulchrone, solicitor for the defendant, said the situation Garda Dever was confronted was not what it might seem as the defendant had no previous convictions and had indicated to him that he was moving to new accommodation at the time.

“It seems he was moving to a new accommodation at the time and had the knife in his backpack when he was stopped and searched,” said Mr. Mulchrone.

The court was told the defendant was taken into custody but was later granted bail.

However, he failed to take up the bail offer as he was unable to come up with a bail bond of €200 and had been in custody since his arrest.

Mr. Mulchrone said his client, who was Italian, had been in Ireland for four years and did have a brother in Dublin who had indicated he would cover the bail bond but he failed to do so.

The court heard that while the defendant had no previous convictions he did have alcohol-related issues and had been seeking help to address those issues while in custody not nothing had been done for him.

He already has served 11 weeks in prison.

The defendant told Judge Murphy that he knew he needed to ‘quieten down’ in relation to his drinking and he was willing to comply with any order that court might make to help him in this regard

Judge Murphy said while it was a serious issue there were underlying issues in relation to the defendant’s alcohol and addiction issues which need to be addressed.

She took into account the 11 weeks the defendant had already served in prison which would be included in a 15-week term of imprisonment which she imposed while Judge Murphy also imposed a two-month suspended sentence on the charge of failing to provide a name and address.

“Hopefully we will get to the bottom of this when the defendant engages in some counselling for his alcohol and addiction issues,” said the judge.

*Published under the Courts Reporting Scheme.