Court: Teenager is jailed for ‘terrorising workers’

The Court was told how the teenage defendant had been involved in an altercation wich led to the charges.

In the dock was 18-year-old Jordan Kavanagh, with an address at Brompton Court in the Waterside, and in an outline of the incident that led to his appearance the Magistrates Court heard how Kavanagh had “terrorised workers trying to go about a job of work”.

District Judge McElholm heard on Friday how Kavanagh had become involved in an altercation at a building site in the vicinity of a public house know as the Three Flowers on the Buncrana Road in the Cityside on May 28 of this year.

Arising out of the incident, the teenager faced charges of disorderly behaviour, resisting a police officer in the execution of her duty, brandishing an offensive weapon (namely a handsaw) and damaging the windscreen of a van belonging to the construction company responsible for the work ongoing at the site.

In addition, Kavanagh was also appearing before District Judge McElholm to be further sentenced in relation to a separate incident on April 24, which took place at what is commonly known as ‘the Donkey Field’ at Drumleck Drive at Shantallow in the Cityside.

District Judge McElholm was told that Kavanagh had approached police on April 24 and called them “f***ing scumbags”.

The prosecution also told him that after shouting at the police Kavanagh then began kicking the front grill of the police Landrover.

Despite being given a warning by the police about his behaviour, he continued kicking the police vehicle and he also called the police “f***ing scumbags” again and also referred to them as “black b***ards”.

A defence solicitor for Kavanagh described his client as a “young man in the early stages of misuse of alcohol” and blamed his inability to cope with alcohol for his client’s misdemeanors over the last two years.

He said that while his client admitted he had not done all he could to engage with probation services in the past - he was not a young man who “sat at home on benefits” and had learned a trade in bricklaying and secured work.

District Judge McElholm said Kavanagh had made no attempt at all to pay any fines imposed by the court over the last two years.

He added that his behaviour on May 28 had “terrorised ordinary people going about their work”,

“That is why we have police to ensure people are not terrorised going about their day to day lives,” District Judge McElholm told him.

Kavanagh was jailed for a total of four months.