"One of the meanest men..." says Judge Neilan

Judge John Neillan relented after threatening to jail a 77-year-old man charged with animal cruelty at a recent sitting of Mullingar District Court.John McNamee had been found guilty of allowing a fungal infection on a horse's leg to go untreated and was appearing at court to hand over €5,000 he had pledged to the ISPCA who had discovered the case at Mr McNamee's farm at Ladestown Mullingar.Mr McNamee's solicitor Robert Marren asked the court if the amount could be lowered. He said that his client was currently unable to come up with such a large sum of cash.He added that his elderly client had serious health issues and asked the judge that this and his age should be taken into consideration.Judge Neilan said that Mr McNamee had been "trucculent and beligerent" towards the court at a previous appearance and said that he had disregarded the animal's condition which the judge described as "horrendous".Judge Nelan argued that Mr McNamee had 100 acres of land and was therefore able to pay the compensation."He has not offered one cent," the judge said.In his defence argument Robert Marren said that the ISPCA had not asked for the sum and that an agreement had been made that if the horse's passport was handed over that no further action would be taken against his client.Judge Neilan also noted that Mr McNamee had a previous conviction for a similar offence and said that while he realised that it would not be allowed, he wanted the local media to print photographs taken of the horse's leg."It's hard to have sympathy for Mr McNamee," said the judge. "He is one of the meanest men ever to have come into this court."Judge Neilan insisted that Mr McNamee would serve a four month prison sentence but Robert Marren argued that his client had agreed to hand over the horse's passport on the condition that he would not be prosecuted.Mr Marren then asked ISPCA inspector Brendan Hughes to take the stand and asked him if an agreement had been made to that effect but the inspector said that this had not happened and that a prosecution was the remit of Gardai and not the ISPCA.After spending 40 minutes on the details of the case the judge agreed that a donation to the ISPCA should be left to Mr McNamee's "own generosity".