Guilty Plea | 

Drunk (23) pushed elderly man outside Busáras and beckoned him to fight

Judge Deirdre Gearty applied the Probation Act, leaving him without a criminal record, after he made a €100 charity donation.

Today at 07:11

A young man pushed an elderly man outside Busáras in Dublin and beckoned him to fight him, a court has heard.

Beko Mqakanya (23) was drunk when he was arrested over the incident at the bus station.

Judge Deirdre Gearty applied the Probation Act, leaving him without a criminal record, after he made a €100 charity donation.

Mqakanya, of Kelly’s Court, Dunboyne, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to public drunkenness, threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and failing to follow garda directions.

Sgt Michelle Lynch told Dublin District Court gardaí were on duty at Busáras on October 15, 2022, when they were alerted to loud shouting outside.

Gardaí saw the accused pushing an elderly man and beckoning him and other members of the public to fight him. He was raising his fists and was in an intoxicated state, the sergeant said.

Gardaí told him to desist and directed him to leave. He refused to comply, was asked several more times and refused again before he was arrested. He had no previous convictions.

The accused did not have a great recollection of the incident as he had consumed alcohol and did not regularly drink, his solicitor Lorraine Stephens said.

He was extremely apologetic, but felt aggrieved in relation to the evidence of “pushing” as he had no memory of that.

“But he apologises to anybody he caused difficulty for,” Ms Stephens said.

She said no complaint about any use of force had been made by anyone.

It was accepted he “should have just done what he was told and moved on”. The accused had learned a lesson about drinking alcohol to excess and had not done it since.