A man who attacked a police officer on Christmas Eve has been handed a suspended sentence, along with a requirement to finish over 200 hours of voluntary work in the community. The local court was informed by Inspector Tony O’Sullivan that Lenison Guimaraes Araujo (44), a resident of Patrick’s Street, Fermoy, Co Cork, had admitted to charges of assault causing injury, exhibiting threatening and abusive behaviour, obstructing a law enforcement officer and public intoxication. Mr Araujo, who hails from Brazil, had the court proceedings translated for him by a Portuguese interpreter.
Officer Mark Murphy responded to a disturbance report from Church Hill, Fermoy, on the evening of December 24, 2023. Upon his arrival, he found Mr Araujo in a state of severe drunkenness, behaving belligerently. When the officer attempted to approach the accused man, Mr Araujo responded aggressively, telling the officer to “leave immediately”, before launching a physical attack on him and repeatedly striking him on the side of his head.
Back-up arrived in response to officer Murphy’s request for aid, at which point Mr Araujo was restrained using pepper spray, arrested, and later transported to the local police station. According to Inspector O’Sullivan, Officer Murphy received scratches on his chin and a gum cut from the assault, but his injuries were minor and did not necessitate any medical treatment.
Ciaran O’Keeffe, the defence solicitor, claimed Mr Araujo was extremely intoxicated during the incident and had no memory of his actions. He stated that his client conceded his behaviour was unacceptable. O’Keeffe added that Mr Araujo, who is employed locally, has a wife and five children.
Judge Colm Roberts critiqued the situation, stating that extreme drunkenness to the point of loss of memory is an unhealthy state to be in, while expressing his limited patience for any form of disrespect towards law enforcement.
In the case of assault resulting in harm, Judge Roberts issued Mr Araujo a nine-month jail term, which is suspended for two years provided he abstains from alcohol. For his threatening and disrespectful conduct, the court handed down a sentence of 100 hours community service as an alternative to two months incarcerated. For obstructing a peace officer, he was given an additional 120 hours community service as an alternative to four months in prison; however, the public drunkenness charge was dismissed.