Andrew Carey
A GRAFFITi artist is to be arrested by An Garda Siochana after he failed to engage with a clean up process of thousands of euro worth of damage to buildings in Limerick city, a court has ordered.
Ruairi Fogarty (19) had been previously ordered to engage in a restorative clean up project of graffiti or face a period of imprisonment.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly was told that the Fogarty, with a previous address in Drominbeg, Rhebogue, was the only one of the four accused not to engage “satisfactorily” and therefore is to be arrested and brought before the courts.
However, Judge O’Kelly was told that Ian Hopkins (21) of Kildooms, Clonlara and Jonathon Noonan (20) with an address at Upper Cecil Street, had participated in 17 and 18 days of clean up work respectively and that “was a penalty in itself in lieu of any conviction that he court could impose
The court noted that the correspondence from the Council authorities supported the efforst of the young men in their “positive and eager approach to the work”.
Two of the teenagers had been previously warned that they faced up to five months in prison unless they took part in a €4,500 clean up operation at the museum.
The four urban graffiti artists were all charged with defacing a number of properties in Limerick including the Frank McCourt Museum which depicts the early life of the family of the Pulitzer prize-winning novelist. The matters came to light in the weeks leading up to international celebrations scheduled at the historic building.
In court this week, Judge O’Kelly said that “these men made a mistake but faced up to it”.
Expressing that he hoped the men learned from their mistakes, Judge O’Kelly added that he wished the two would “put their artistic talents to more productive use in the future”. The probation act was applied to both Nathan Murray and Ian Hopkins in light of their approach to the matter.
However, in dealing with Nathan Murray, Judge O’Kelly said that the 19-year-old was being treated differently by the court “because he behaved differently”.
The court imposed a 90 hour community service order in lieu of a three month prison sentence for the summons matters brought by Limerick City Council.
