Garda threatened at meter dispute
A MAN attending an anti-water meter protest in Drogheda threatened to break the face of a garda before spitting in the officer’s face, a court has heard.
Anthony Garvey (36) told Garda Alan Connell ‘You ginger c**t, I’ll break your face’ when the atmosphere became hostile and a number of people were trying to attack gardai who were behind a barrier.
Gda Connell told Drogheda District Court he was on duty at an anti- water meter protest at Moneymore on the day water meters were being installed there.
He said he was assigned a camcorder to record the day’s event ‘due to the nature of it,’ and had informed as many there as he could he was recording proceedings.
‘ The atmosphere turned hostile at around 1.20pm, barriers were being thrown around and there was a lot of cursing going on,’ said Gda Connell.
He said a situation arose outside a house in the estate where he was forced to leave the camcorder in the squad car and attend to help his colleagues.
‘People were trying to attack gardai and I was holding a barrier,’ he said.
He said the defendant was hostile and abusive and tried to pull the barrier from him and shouted ‘You ginger c**t, I’ll break your face,’ before spitting in the garda’s face.
‘At this point I realised he knew he had made a mistake and he backed away,’ said Gda Connell.
Garvey, of Moneymore in Drogheda was charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour at Moneymore on December 1st, 2014.
He did not attend court on the day the case was in for hearing and Judge John Coughlan proceeded with the case in his absence.
The defendant has 28 previous convictions, most of which are for road traffic offences, the court heard.
Judge Coughlan convicted and fined the defendant €200. He fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal.