A JUDGE has threatened to send a mentally ill man to jail for begging, under a 1847 `vagrancy' law.
Alec Getty (63), of Trinity Drive in Ballymoney, Co Antrim admitted to a charge of begging in the vicinity of Main Street in the town at Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday.
The charge was that he placed himself `to beg or gather alms, contrary to Section 3 of the Vagrancy (Ireland) Act 1847'.
The court heard police received a report of a man begging on May 10 after he approached a woman asking her for money.
She informed him she had none and he then approached two other women for money.
His solicitor Denise Gillan said Getty, who lives alone, was diagnosed as a schizophrenic in the 1980s and had mental health issues.
The court heard he receives housing benefit and other benefits and gets support from his ex-wife, who was in court.
Ms Gillan said he generally asks people for 50 pence or a pound, adding "it's compulsive behaviour with him. It is also a complete nuisance to the community" and if it was not begging, the offending tended to be "public urination".
"This is a man who is mentally ill," she said.
Getty had previously been warned by the resident district judge Liam McNally, about his offending.
District Judge Paul Copeland said the defendant had "multiple convictions" for begging and he had to "strike a balance".
"People feel intimidated and threatened and much put upon. The next time you are tempted to harass people for money remember that you will be behind bars," he said.
He was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.
