Andrew Carey
A SYRIAN Kurd who was looking for food and accommodations at a Limerick city hostel smashed two CCTV cameras with a vacuum cleaner when he was refused admission and claims he was told to sleep on the streets.
Gardai responded to a call to a city centre hostel on March 21 after Jamil Jaffar damaged the cameras and a glass partition.
They were told that he had entered the premises demanding food and money and place to sleep, although he was supposed to be in another hostel in County Limerick at the time.
Defending solicitor John Herbert said that Mr Jaffar claimed he was told to “sleep on the streets when he was refused entry to the hostel.
A second charge related to damaging property at the dining hall of Mount Trenchard hostel in Foynes on April 15 last when it was claimed that he caused the damage “for no apparent reason”.
Mr Herbert explained that Mr Jaffar felt “targeted” when he came to the dining hall for breakfast and there was no one there to help”.
He was resident in Ireland for the last three months and “has not enjoyed his time here”. He had been sleeping rough in the city for a period and, with a €19 allowance, he was not allowed work and this added to his frustration.
“He accepts that he was wrong and is looking to be deported”, Mr Herbert added.
Stating that he had no jurisdiction to deport the defendant, Judge Aeneas McCarthy imposed a three month prison sentence for the incident at the Limerick city hostel, but suspended it for a period of two years.
