A VIDEO shop owner was fined €1,500 yesterday for having five illicit movies for rent which were banned when viewed by the film censor.
Michael Bridgeman (52), with addresses at Glenview, Ballyneety, Co Limerick, and Mungret Gate Developments, Mungret Street, Limerick, pleaded guilty at Galway District Court to three charges of having the illicit movies for supply without a film certificate or correct labelling at his video shop, Underworld, on Upper Dominick Street, Galway, on May 28th last year, contrary to Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Video Recordings Act 1989.
Insp Mick Coppinger said Det Sgt Brendan Carroll, who is head of the crime unit in Galway, headed up an operation which targeted video rental shops in the city last year.
Judge Mary Fahy said films such as those five banned by the censor – including Teen Thrills and Let Me Taste It – can be “very obscene and disturbing”.
“They can also show gross violence which can lead to other problems in society,” the judge added.