Man in court over ‘making threat to kill TD Naughton’
A MAN has appeared in court charged with making a threat to kill or cause serious harm to the Government chief whip, Hildegarde Naughton.
Daragh O’Flaherty, 47, is charged with making a threat to Ms Naughton, intending her to believe it would be carried out, to kill or cause serious harm.
The alleged offence is contrary to section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. The incident is alleged to have occurred on January 10, 2024 at an unknown location in the district court area of Galway. Ms Naughton is a Fine Gael TD for Galway West.
Mr O’Flaherty, of 28 New Estate, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway, was remanded on bail subject to conditions, including that he stay away from the homes and offices of all Galway politicians.
In court, Garda John Kerrigan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.
He said that in reply to the single charge, Mr O’Flaherty said: ‘There is a boy in a well. He is drowning in vaccine juice. The Government keeps throwing people into the well. The media and corporations keep their foot on their head so the establishment can pretend there is no one in the well, and gardaí and the judiciary pretend the well does not exist. The national order must be restored.’
Galway District Court Judge Adrian Harris asked Garda Kerrigan to slowly go through the reply as it was quite lengthy. Mr O’Flaherty repeated the reply in court as Judge Harris took a note.
Gda Kerrigan said the State consented to bail subject to the accused abiding by certain conditions.
He said as part of the bail conditions, Mr O’Flaherty must reside at his given address, sign on twice a week at a Galway garda station and have no contact with the alleged injured party.
The accused must also stay away from the homes and offices of all Galway politicians and refrain from posting threatening and abusive content on social media or other internet platforms. Solicitor John Martin was granted legal aid to represent the accused. Mr Martin told the court the conditions were broadly agreed but his client was objecting to signing on twice a week and having to refrain from posting threatening and abusive content. After going into the witness box and affirming, the accused said: ‘My name is Daragh O’Flaherty and I always tell the truth.’
Mr O’Flaherty told the court he was willing to sign on once a week. He said as part of his work he travels around Ireland ‘educating’ and ‘motivating’ communities. ‘It is important to me,’ he added.
He said he doesn’t get paid for this work, has a low income and has to spend a lot of his money on bus tickets for travel.
Mr Martin said signing on once a week seemed reasonable in the circumstances but Gda Kerrigan said the State wanted twice a week due to the seriousness of the charge. Mr O’Flaherty said the gardaí did not have a problem contacting him and he had made himself available to gardaí during the investigation.
‘I want my court case, your honour. I want justice,’ he added.
The accused said he objected to the condition regarding posting material because the interpretation of what is offensive can be ‘quite broad’.
Judge Harris said there are already laws in place regarding threatening and abusive behaviour and after a brief conversation with the judge, Mr O’Flaherty agreed to abide by the condition.
Judge Harris agreed to the application to have the signing on condition reduced to once a week. Mr O’Flaherty was remanded on bail to appear in court on March 13.
‘I want my case. I want justice’