A 33-YEAR-OLD Enniskillen man was sentenced to three months in prison after he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place and disorderly behaviour.

Appearing via videolink from Maghaberry Prison, James Donahoe, of Windmill Heights, Enniskillen, was convicted in relation to an incident that took place on January 25, 2020.

At around 2.45am, police received a 999 call from staff at Donaldson’s Snooker Hall on Old Henry Street in Enniskillen reporting a fight had broken out involving a number of people and were requesting police to attend.

When police arrived they arrested two males for criminal damage, but while they were being held in custody, officers viewing CCTV footage saw two other individuals, including Donahoe, appearing to be the antagonists.

The footage showed a female taking off her socks and filling them with snooker balls and swinging them at the two males who had been arrested. She passed one of these items to the defendant, who was seen swinging the socks full of snooker balls.

The two males, who were in custody, were interviewed and made no complaints, and based on the CCTV footage were released unconditionally, and declined to make complaints of assault.

Police attempted to conduct interviews with the defendant and co-accused but they did not attend voluntarily. They were eventually arrested in Granny Annies in Enniskillen on March 12 for possession of an offensive weapon.

The CCTV footage was shown to Donahoe, who made no comment to all questions asked.

Donahoe’s barrister, Stefan Rafferty, told the court that the other individuals involved in the incident were family members of the defendant and both he his partner and the two other family members were in the snooker hall late at night, having consumed alcohol.

A row had ensued between the parties and a heated verbal exchange then progressed into something more concerning.

Mr. Rafferty said his client was not violent towards the other men, and described as “strange circumstances” the female taking off her shoes and socks and proceeding to put snooker balls into her socks and swinging in direction of other males, handing one of these to Donahoe who swung it a few times.

He added that other than that, no further offence was carried out by Donahoe, and apart from accepting the weapon there was no damage caused, no contact made with any other individuals, and it was only later when viewing CCTV footage that he was deemed to have committed an offence.

District Judge Steven Keown said the offence occurred with “something that clearly could cause, given the weight involved, significant damage and injury” and pointed out that the incident occurred between spells of imprisonment for Donahoe.

Looking at similar offending by Donahoe, and dealing with both charges at the same time, Judge Keown handed down three months in custody to Donahoe and and warned him if there are any further offending or breaches of suspended sentences the defendant's period back in jail will keep going up and up.