Bare faced cheeks land student in jail

Cheeky chappy Patrick Devine fell foul of the law in Senegal after a prank went wrong.

Devine was convicted of public indecency and fined $300(US) at the end of August for dropping his trousers at the home of a Senegalese governor in Saint Louis.

Authorities didn’t take kindly to the ‘mooning’ which happened on the night of July 27, arresting Devine immediately. He was eventually released on bail after one month behind bars.

The 19-year-old Belfast university student also received a four-month suspended sentence said his lawyer, Moustapha Diop.

Devine was in Senegal with Teaching and Projects Abroad (TPA). A spokesman for the TPA programme confirmed that they were doing all they can to help but refused to comment further.

It is believed that the student was encouraged by other members of the TPA programme as part of a series of dares.
Local newspapers reported that Devine bared his bum so a friend could take a photo. A female Canadian student who filmed the mooning is understood to have been fined.

Devine’s mother Noreen and other family members visited him at La Maison de La Correction, the prison he was transferred to after being arrested.

Writing on social networking site Bebo, Devine described the arrest as ending the ‘worst week of his life’ during which he had to have part of his small toe amputated after contracting chicken pox. Students on the site offered their support for the flasher. One said: “I just wanna say you earned my total respect by pulling that mooner.”

The incident even aroused the concern of the Irish government.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “The department is aware that an Irish student has been arrested and we are providing consular assistance through our embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.”
Dermot Ahern, the Foreign Affairs Minister, was also informed about the incident while he was on holiday in France last month.

“It is a very unfortunate case. I spoke to the young man’s mother and assured her that the Department and its officials abroad were doing everything possible to resolve the situation,” he said.

Considering the gravity of his crime Devine got of fairly lightly. Public indecency in Senegal is punishable by a jail term of three months to two years, along with a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 francs CFA (£20 to £200).

Editorial - September 2007