A notoriously strict Donegal judge sent out a clear message to law breakers at Buncrana District Court last Thursday – cross the line and you WILL go to jail.

Judge Desmond Zaidan slapped the maximum two-year prison sentence on a man who callously mugged a Buncrana pensioner as she walked home alone in January 2007.

He was was eventually persuaded to suspend six months of the two consecutive 12-month sentences – but only after solicitor Ciarán MacLochlainn urged him FIVE times to show leniency because it was the man’s first offence and he had pleaded guilty.

Judge Zaidan had initially spared Christian Wozny a prison spell for the two theft-related charges when he appeared in Buncrana District Court in March last year – provided he paid his 79-year-old victim 2,000 euro in compensation and did 240 hours of community service.

But the Polish national skipped town without paying a penny or meeting with the probation services and had the misfortune of being hauled before the same judge last week after being apprehended in Dublin for a different offence.

Judge Zaidan didn’t mince his words with defence solicitor Ciarán MacLochalinn when justifying the severity of the sentence.

He said: “This was the type of case from day one that should have seen this man behind bars.

“But I gave him a chance against my better judgment because you pressed me.

“I took a gamble and a risk – but your client spurned the opportunity you worked so hard to get for him.

“I have to get the message across. Mugging an 80-year-old woman in Main Street, Buncrana – or anywhere else in Ireland – is completely unacceptable.”