He hasn’t a leg to stand on after that sort of carry-on, in fairness.
The supermarket can be a place of tension and high drama at times; if you’ve ever seen the queue for breakfast rolls at the deli counter first thing in the morning or the battle to bag the last crate of beer late on Holy Thursday you’ll know what we mean.
For the most part, however, those caught up in any tension manage to refrain from resorting to violence in an attempt to settle any differences, but unfortunately every now and again things get out of hand, as they did in Limerick last February in a case that was heard in court recently and covered in the Limerick Leader today.
According to the Limerick Leader, 51-year old John McNamara had denied assaulting security guard Marius Pogonowski, 35 at the Eurospar in Watch House Cross on February 3, 2013.
The Leader reported that the Court heard that Mr Pogonowski was talking with Mr McNamara’s daughter and her partner at the checkout when McNamara approached him and became aggressive.
“He was shouting and roaring and he threw a hot chicken at me,” Mr Pogonowski said, adding that it struck him on the leg and that he grabbed a shopping basket to defend himself afterwards as the situation became heated and other people present at the scene became involved.
Despite McNamara’s denials, another Eurospar employee backed up Pogonowski’s claims that McNamara had thrown the chicken at him, as was also evident in CCTV footage of the incident, which also showed McNamara being restrained by members of his family.
McNamara initially denied deliberately throwing the chicken at Pogonowski but after he was cross examined by Inspector Seamus Ruane, it was clear that he had been winging it as he admitted that he had been a “small bit aggressive” and that he had thrown the chicken in a fit of temper.
Calling what McNamara had done a “potentially very dangerous act” on the basis that Pogonowski could have been scalded by hot grease if the bag containing the chicken burst, Judge Eugene O’Kelly imposed a four-month prison sentence, suspending it for two years, while McNamara was also banned from the store in question.
Feather or not McNamara deserved a harsher punishment is up for debate, but there's no denying that some people will feel he got plucky *JOE goes to get coat*
