cleared OAP in Covid rules arrest was in city to get medicine for her sick husband

A RETIRED civil servant was arrested under Covid regulations after she travelled to Dublin to get medication for her ill husband during the pandemic, a court has heard.

June Kelly (73) was waiting outside a city centre pharmacy when gardaí questioned her, then took her into custody when she "panicked" and failed to give her name and address.

Kelly, from Prospect Court, Mullingar, Co Westmeath was cleared of a charge of breaching Covid travel regulations after her defence said her 88-year-old husband's medication was not available in her home town due to supply chain disruption.

She pleaded guilty to failing to give her name and address when required by a garda.

Judge Treasa Kelly applied the Probation Act, leaving her without a conviction.

Dublin District Court heard there had been an anti-lockdown protest which Ms Kelly was not involved in on Lower O'Connell Street on March 28 last year.

Garda Peter Kilgallen asked her why she was there but she did not give him an answer.

He demanded her name and address but she did not provide them and was arrested.

The garda said there was a large group around and the reason for her being in Dublin "got lost in translation".

The accused's barrister said Kelly had been asked to wait outside the pharmacy while the medication was made up and when the garda approached, she tried to engage with him as best she could.

She had never come to garda attention before and mistakenly thought she could explain why she was present.

It was not a wilful refusal but an "unwitting technical offence" that arose out of kindness when she was trying to relieve her husband's pain.

Kelly had been named in a media report about a protest that she was not part of.

Judge Kelly said the accused had taken responsibility for her actions and had already "paid a price".