People are hoping to see less of Robert Moore, 48, but a court released the defendant who was arrested in Plymouth after “spraying urine to and fro into the flower beds while making noises like an elephant.” Despite his lawyer admitting that Moore has a “raging alcohol problem” and exposing himself of children, he was released and given another chance to tackle his drinking.
Moore did his elephant gig over flower beds in front of shoppers, including a family with a child that reported that he exposed himself. There was a public bathroom across the square. He had a prior community order and offense on this record.
We often discuss appropriate sentencing and this one struck me as a difficult question. Given the five-year-old girl who witnessed this act, should Moore’s alcoholism result in probation with no jail time in such cases? He was given only a fine for £50 prosecution costs. I am less concerned with “fouling the flower beds” and the exposure allegation. What do you think?
Source: Plymouth
Rafflaw, alcohol doesn’t piss; people piss.
want to stop his behavior? easy, next time he does it all women in the area laugh and point. he’ll never do it again.
I don’t know which way to call this one. What does the Constitution say about it?
By the way, here’s a honey badger.
I had kidney stones and a doctor shrank them or dissolved them with some vibration machine about thirty years ago. Then about fifteen years ago I had been kidney stone free and I ran into him at the symphony. At the break we were talking and he commented that he never had a patient with kidney stones who was a beer drinker. I said, Why didnt you telll me that back then? Jeso. I think red wine is bad for you. But I did the elephant bellow thing and peed all around the back yard. Of course that was in my prior life as a human. Us dogs dont get no kidney stones and its probably due to good diet.
I am in favor of jail time in a case like this only if he gets treatment for his alcoholism which is the root of all these problems for him.
Dredd, If that’s the punishment, you’ll have a million Irishmen pissing in public.
He should be sentenced to drinking Guiness only.
BarkinDog, Kidney stones are no laughing matter. I had one and the pain was unbearable. The crusty ER nurse was very empathetic. She said she appreciates men w/ kidney stones because they then know the pain of childbirth. I just nodded and said, “Give me the f@ckin’ demerol!”
Ths man obviously has a kidney stone. The English make it sound like he had a spray bottle of pee and was spraying the roses. When one has a kidney stone attack it compels one to make an elephant noise and pee at the same time. The kid wont be bothered by it because his time will come when he gets kidney stones from drinking the same metalic water from the city water supply and he will know what to do to relieve the pain. One must walk and pee and bellow. Been there, done that. Ben done it too.
Give him a boulder to push up a mountain. The man obviously needs something to keep him busy.
I was a bit shocked by Europeans ability to relieve themselves in public so I am not entirely sure how far from normal this behavior was. OTOH I am not the least surprised that alcohol was involved. With his record a little time in spin dry would do him a world of good.
He caused a commotion and likely scared a small child. The conditional discharge, which takes into account his previous history and his efforts to improve, seems appropriate. I would hate to live in a country where a relatively harmless man can be sent to prison simply for being a drunkard.
On a serious note. It’s not clear if he is specifically exposing himself to children or if his alchoholic rants just cause him to pis in front of them. Obviously, it matters little to the child. However, if he’s a sexual predator type that is substantially different than being a deranged alchoholic. If he’s the former stiff sentence. The latter, more than probation because alcohol is the cause of this behavior. It appears to be the latter
Is he hung like an elephant? I bet he’s really hung like a light switch.
Public drunkenness isn’t an excuse. It’s not as if he did this in his own backyard and someone saw him over the fence (most English homes have fenced yards, even hedges).
He’s not dealing with his drunkenness, nor with his history of public exposure nor respecting his previous light treatment by the court.
A medium stint residing ‘at the governor’s pleasure’ (aka jail) would separate him from his alcohol and give him lots of time to ponder his behavior.
Maybe he should have been making the noises of a honey badger.
Because honey badger just don’t care.
It would be interesting to know if he would have received a stiffer (sorry, couldn’t resist) sentence had he been sober at the time. There’s a persistent mentality that things you do while drunk somehow don’t count–or at least don’t count as much. I was struck, for instance, by how many responded with indignation to the 2-year sentence of the teabagging student, claiming his behavior was just normal drunken college hijinks.
He has priors. It’s less the actual damages caused by his actions than his inability to control himself. He’s clearly not being deterred by fines alone. Perhaps a week in the pokey would help convince him that at least seeking some privacy when choosing to urinate in public is a good idea.
Has all the quaffs to be in parliament.