Man went on wrecking rampage in hostel with iron bar

A man used an iron bar to cause almost €2,000 worth of damage to computers and other equipment in the foyer of the Great Western Hostel after he was told he was being transferred from there to Foynes by the Department of Justice.

Hasan Ali Gori (43), formerly of Room 410, Great Western Hostel, Frenchville Lane, Galway, denied causing criminal damage in the foyer on April 28, 2016, when he appeared before Galway District Court this week.

He also denied charges of producing a nail bar while committing an offence and breaching the peace by engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour on the same date.

Sean Hennelly, who owns the Great Western Hostel, gave evidence he came out of a meeting in an office adjacent to reception to find the whole area in a shambles.

Everything had been smashed, he said, including two desktop computers, a TV and one CCTV camera. The cost of the damage came to €1,891, he said. Mr Hennelly explained that on the morning in question, the defendant was being transferred to Foynes on the instructions of the Department of Justice.

Judge Mary Fahy asked Mr Hennelly if the man had been pleased or displeased to be moving from Galway to Foynes.

Mr Hennelly said Gori had not raised any issues with him that morning about the move, but he felt he was displeased.

Garda Pat Foley gave evidence he received a complaint that a man had entered the hostel brandishing an iron bar and had caused damage to the foyer area. He went to the premises where he found the defendant and an iron bar lying on the reception desk. The CCTV camera, which would have covered the foyer area, had been smashed, he said.

The iron/nail bar was shown to the court as an exhibit.

Security man, Paul Grealish, told the hearing he was sitting at a desk in the foyer when one of the residents arrived and took out a nail bar and started to smash up the computers, TV and CCTV in the reception area.

He said he came out from behind reception and the man calmed down when he asked him to do so.

“Before that, he was fairly loud and angry. Once I approached him, he just downed tools and stopped,” he said.

Defence solicitor, John Martin, said his client would deny smashing the place up.

Mr Grealish said there was no one else there that morning.

Following defence submissions, Judge Fahy refused an application to have the charges dismissed.

Gori said that everything the other witnesses had said was false. He denied causing any damage in the foyer and said he did not know who caused the damage.  He said that if he had caused the damage, then it would have been recorded on CCTV.

He confirmed he had been staying in Great Western Hostel since 2013.

Reading the court file, Judge Fahy observed the reason the matter took so long to come before the court was that the accused had changed solicitors on three occasions.

She convicted him, noting that he had denied the charges, saying it should have been shown on CCTV, which couldn’t be done, because he had broken it.

“His attitude and cynicism leaves a lot to be desired,” the judge said.

Imposing a six-month sentence for causing the criminal damage, the judge noted no compensation would be forthcoming from the accused and no apology either.

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