SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR GARDA ATTACK
A Dundalk man who broke a Garda sergeant’s leg during a terrifying early morning incident in a taxi outside the station during which a realistic-looking pistol was pointed has been
Solicitor Dermot Monahan said a psychiatrist had prepared a report for the court which showed that McGinley had been suffering from an illness at the time of the offence and though he had been abusing substances, these were secondary to the mental illness as an explanation for his behaviour as he continued to suffer from the illness while he was on remand.
Details of the attack on the officers, which happened in the early hours of April 17 last year, were revealed for the first time at Dundalk District Court earlier this year. And it was also revealed that the defendant had been released from a psychiatric unit in Louth just a week before the ‘ outrageous’ incident.
Dean McGinley, (34), 6 Assumption Place, Dundalk pleaded guilty to a number of charges arising out of the attack including assault causing harm to Sgt. Charley McNulty, resisting Garda Hugh Jordan who was trying to arrest him and possession of a realistic imitation firearm.
McGinley got into a taxi with a couple he didn’t know around 5am and had refused to get out. The taxi driver brought the mini bus to the station where Sgt. McNulty and Gda. Jordan told McGinley to get out.
The defendant replied: ‘ You and who’s army are getting me out of here?’ The two Gardai got into the mini bus but McGinley produced a realistic-looking pistol from his pocket and pointed it at them, pulling the trigger a number of times. Gardai later said they believed the weapon was real and Gda. Jordan tried to disarm McGinley.
There was a struggle and the gun hit the roof of the vehicle, breaking up as it turned out to be plastic. The two officers continued trying to restrain the defendant, and Sgt. McNulty squirted pepper spray at McGinley but ‘it had little effect’.
The defendant ‘charged at Gda. Jordan with clenched fists’ while pointing the rest of the gun and shouting: ‘I will ‘f **king kill you’.
Once more, the pair tried to restrain him, but McGinley turned and charged at Sgt. McNulty ‘with considerable force’ and ‘ stamped on his foot’ resulting in a serious leg break for the officer.
McGinley fell on top of Sgt. McNulty and Gda. Jordan managed to get the handcuffs on him and arrest him before the defendant was taken to the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda where he was treated for minor injuries.
Last week, Mr Monahan said his client had spent three months on remand in Cloverhill Prison, without access to drink or drugs, and ‘ he continued to suffer from an illness’. The defendant had been classed as having ‘ thought process disruption’ and ‘ bipolar affective disorder’, which, Mr Monahan said, the World Health Organisation had classed as ‘a serious mental illness’.
He said McGinley had been in hospital for treatment a number of times, but since he was bailed, he has been ‘attending mental health services and taking his medication and he has become mentally stable’.
However, he remains, Mr Monahan said, ‘seriously ill’ but has a mental capacity ‘of a child’. The solicitor added: ‘ This is the perfect example of what the Gardai are facing - a Jekyll and Hyde scenario was presented to gardai and his consumption of intoxicants brought his problems to the fore’.
McGinley himself told the court he is ‘very sorry to the guards’ and added he has no memory of what happened on the night. He said he felt very sorry for what happened and said it wouldn’t happen again as he is now taking his medication.
Judge Brennan said the offences were ‘extremely serious’ and he imposed a 12 month sentence, but suspended it for two years on condition that McGinley continues to take his medication and engages with the health services.