Woman (19) put in jail over dog leash fine

Gardai told Amy O'Driscoll that she would only spend an hour in Mountjoy Prison when she was brought there last Wednesday, but ended up spending two days in prison.

Ms O'Driscoll was arrested last week on foot of a penal warrant because she had not paid a €500 fine after a dog warden seized her pet near her home in Finglas, north Dublin, in November 2007.

Ms O'Driscoll had missed her court appearance because she was out of the country, and was unable to pay the fine and legal costs.

Last week she got a letter saying she had been sentenced to five days in prison.

"It's outrageous, but it appears to be something that is becoming increasingly common," local Sinn Fein councillor Dessie Ellis said yesterday.

Mr Ellis, who is a family friend, spent two days last week trying to get the "terrified" young woman out of Mountjoy.

She was granted temporary release on Friday, after spending her time in a medical cell, where her fellow inmates included two heroin addicts.

Ms O'Driscoll said the experience was the worst of her life.

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