Suspended sentence for assault on gardaí

LAW STUDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO THE ASSAULT OF GARDAÍ IN DINGLE

A LAW graduate was given a suspended sentence for the late-night assault of two gardaí in Dingle last April.

Páraic McGrath, Farrihy, Kilkee, Co Clare, roared at gardaí ‘f **k you, what are ye going to do about it?’ and ‘up the RA!’ before running off up Main St after gardaí encountered him in Dingle on April Fool’s Day last year.

He pleaded guilty to the assault of Gda Nina Long and Gda Jonathan Griffin before Judge David Waters at Dingle District Court on Friday.

Sergeant Miriam Mulhall Nolan told the Court that gardaí on patrol in Dingle at 3am on the date saw Mr McGrath carrying his girlfriend and putting her on the side of a large shop window.

He became abusive when approached and ran up Main St after shouting the expletive.

Sgt Mulhall Nolan said Sgt Martin Allen ran after him as gardaí followed in the patrol car – to see Mr McGrath doubling back down the street.

Gda Nina Long had been walking up Main St and stretched her hands out in an effort to stop Mr McGrath as he ran back down the hill on Main St towards her, ‘banging’ into her and sending her onto the ground. It was an assault that resulted in a fractured shoulder for Gda Long, who is still out of work as a result. The garda is not expected to make a full recovery and return to work until April next. Gardaí credited doormen at the An Droichead Beag pub for helping them apprehend Mr McGrath, who later headbutted Gda Jonathan Griffin while coming out of the patrol car at Dingle Garda Station. Gda Griffin’s injuries were not as serious as Gda Long’s, amounting to soft tissue damage, the Court heard.

“He’s in serious difficulty,” Judge Waters remarked of the defendant.

“That is not lost on anybody in this room,” solicitor Pat Mann replied, before explaining that his client – who was present in court with his parents on Friday – had been attempting to put his girlfriend on the windowsill of the large pane.

“The incident on the windowsill was at 3am and the arrest was at 3.05am, so for a five-minute interval all this damage and destruction had been brought about,” Mr Mann said.

He explained that Mr McGrath had been in Dingle celebrating his father’s 60th birthday on the date and described the McGrath family as ‘extremely hard-working country people’.

McGrath was very intoxicated and unfamiliar with Dingle.

“Inexplicably, he ran up the hill and, even more inexplicably, he crossed to the top of the street where the church is located and, again inexplicably, he ran back down the hill...straight into [Gda Long], knocking her sideways.”

The law degree graduate’s chances of getting into Blackhall Place could now be ‘scuppered’, Mr Mann said, saying his client had not set out to harm anyone, urging the Court for leniency.

“I’ve no doubt this happened at the high end of recklessness in an attempt to resist arrest,” Judge Waters remarked of the Gda Long assault, but he said he could not leave matters without a conviction and sentenced him to two months, suspended for 12 months. Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal.