VERBAL ABUSE | 

Drunken passenger (39) who tried to hit Dublin taxi driver ‘was in dark place’

Kevin Maguire (39) was in an agitated state when gardaí arrived to help the driver remove him from the taxi.

Today at 09:35

A taxi passenger who drunkenly tried to hit the driver was in a “dark place” at the time, a court has heard.

Kevin Maguire (39) was in an agitated state when gardaí arrived to help the driver remove him from the taxi. Judge Máire Conneely struck the case out, sparing him a criminal record, when he made a €300 charity donation.

Maguire, of Trasnagh, Newcastle Road, Lucan, pleaded guilty to public intoxication and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Blanchardstown District Court heard gardaí were called to deal with a passenger in a taxi at Newcastle Road, Lucan, on January 11.

He had no previous convictions. Maguire had lost his job during Covid and developed a reliance on alcohol, which led him to a “dark place”, his solicitor Mervyn Harnett said.

He was addressing his alcoholism and had now got a new job in administration in sales.

Maguire was “not likely to come before the court again”.

The judge said she would give the accused an opportunity to make a charity donation instead of convicting him.