Monaghan District Court Judge Sean Martin McBride has been making headlines again.. This time it’s Tyrone and not Londonderry that was the target of his judicial displeasure. Strange story all round, it should be said, with the wrong woman summonsed to court in the first place. Apparently required to pay 50 euro to have the case dismissed, the woman in court only had sterling.. This, according to the reports, resulted in Judge McBride telling her she was “showing the typical thickness from Tyrone people”. [new links] Sinn Fein’s Barry McElduff, MLA for West Tyrone, is “going to write to the minister for justice from the south and ask that he withdraws the remark”. [Signed ‘Disgusted of Tyrone’? – Ed]From the Irish News report [subs for 24 hours]
Legal technicalities meant that Ms McGrath still had to pay E50 bail to get the case thrown out in the circuit court.
It was when she explained that she and her father, who had accompanied her to the hearing, had only sterling that the judge accused her of “showing the typical thickness from Tyrone people”.
“I am well used to it through football growing up in Donegal and different things,” he said.
Ms McGrath’s father went to a nearby bank to withdraw the money.
Earlier Judge McBride ac-cused her of disrespecting the court by shaking her head when told that a different court would have to dismiss the case and she would have to pay for the transfer.
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