A father and son involved in a 2020 public order incident in Longford town have been ordered to keep the peace or face a €500 fine. Jozef Gorej jnr and Jozef Gorej snr appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens in Longford District Court yesterday. The Slovakian natives were involved in an incident on December 15th, 2020 that saw the younger Mr Gorej threaten a group of people in Annaly Park in Longford Town following damage to the front window of his home.
Addressing the court yesterday, Detective Garda Damien McGovern described attending the estate on the evening in question following calls to Gardaí. Detective McGovern told the court that the younger Jozef Gorej, under the influence of alcohol, had approached a group within the estate and threatened to shoot them. According to Gardaí, Mr Gorej was in a relationship with a former partner of another family in the estate, and this had led to tension between the parties.
CCTV footage from the estate show the Slovakian native in a stand off with several others, with Mr Gorej seen to expose himself to the crowd. Evidence presented to the court from the attending detective described the accused as being in possession of a knuckleduster that was then handed off to another person and lost in the crowd. It was then, according to the detective, that Mr Gorej Senior arrived on the scene with a baseball bat.
The crowd was dispersed shortly afterwards without further incident. It was highlighted that both men, represented by different solicitors, had since moved from the estate, removing much of the tension from the situation. Detective McGovern branded it an 'ugly incident' with Judge Owen handing down an order for the father and son to be subject to a peace bond of €250 each
Should they get into trouble over the next year, they will be forced to pay the fine or face jail.
