A judge told a court yesterday nobody can be proud of the life Josef Pavelka had in lreland despite the man's self-inflicted problems.
Last month, Judge Patrick Durcan brought Mr Pavelka's plight to national attention when he described the 52-year-old Czech national sleeping in a public toilet in Ennis, Co Clare, as a scandal.
Chronic alcoholic
A chronic alcoholic, Mr Pavelka remained homeless and his body was found in a laneway in Ennis last Saturday night.
Mr Pavelka was due to appear at Ennis District Court yesterday concerning a public order charge from last week and when his name was called, Judge Durcan said: "This is the man that came before
us and the case achieved a lot of notoriety.
“I simply want to say again and repeat that in my view, in a modern democracy where someone ends up sleeping up in a public toilet, that is and will always be a scandal.”
He added: “There is a duty to ensure that in our society, irrespective of the financial difficulties we have, that there is a basic level of care available to all.”
Ennis Town Council has stated it had no evidence that anyone was sleeping in its superloos.
In court yesterday, Judge Durcan said: “I am concerned to note that there were denials issued concerning that this man wasn’t living in those conditions.
“The reality is this. Despite his difficulties and despite his self-inflicted problems and despite his inability to deal with those problems, this man’s life in this country was something which is a matter that nobody here can be proud of.
“This man appeared in court when required and it really is shamefully sad that this man died in the circumstances and conditions that he did.”
Judge Durcan continued: “I would hope that people who are involved in the care of people in private and public bodies and members of the public would try to ensure that no one in their knowledge ends up living in these conditions.
“Out of all the bad stories, good stories may come of them. That it may help and alert everyone to monitor everyone and help everyone to try to assist those institutions – public and private – who care for people.
“The last time the gentleman was here, we reflected on the fact that he had become a celebrity. That in itself was a reflection on the generosity, on the wonderful people of this county to this man in his last days.
"I don't think anyone could have wished to see a continuation of the situation that this man faced and people showed that. Unfortunately what happened has happened.
"One of the poignant things about this case, I can still see him sitting down there in the court and he struck me as a most kindly gentleman."
Mr Pavelka's solicitor, Daragh Hassett, told the court Mr Pavelka had his own difficulties but was a gentleman in every regard.
Chaos in his life
"We hoped that he would be housed and the chaos in his life would be removed and unfortunately it didn't happen in time and that is not through any fault of the people who came together in recent weeks," he said.
Insp Tom Kennedy said Mr Pavelka was “always easy to deal with and never presented any difficulty to gardaí and our concerns were for his own safety”. The inspector confirmed that contact had been made with Mr Pavelka’s family.
