Man pleads guilty to assault after trying to chase down flight
AN Oulart man has pleaded guilty to the assault of two Dublin Airport workers who tackled him as he tried to run after a plane on the side of the runway after he missed his flight to Amsterdam.
Ryanair staff and airport police combined to stop an intoxicated Patrick Kehoe (24) of Raheenaskeagh, Oulart, after he ran out onto the apron in a bid to flag down his flight.
He was late for the Amsterdam bound flight, but got through the boarding gate and a door leading onto the tarmac, close to the Ryanair plane at around 7 a.m. on September 27 last. The Oulart man was restrained and held until gardaí arrived. He had initially been charged with criminal damage to the door lock at gate 106 in Terminal 1, however, that charge was withdrawn on Thursday at Dublin District Court.
Instead, it was replaced with two counts of assaulting an Airport Police Service (APS) woman and a male aircraft ground handler who intervened as he ran after his flight which was getting ready to take off.
Defence solicitor Peter Connolly told Judge Dermot Simms that his client wished to lodge a plea of guilty to the charges. He stated that Kehoe is unemployed and previously worked as a carpenter’s assistant and that he was at the airport with his girlfriend to go on holiday to the Dutch capital.
Garda David Cahill said that when Kehoe got to his boarding gate, it was closed, but he proceeded out onto the apron and chased the aircraft. Ground handlers were marshalling the plane, which was taxiing onto the runway.
The court heard that Kehoe attacked one of them by ‘pushing him and tripping him back onto the ground’. The policewoman went to stop him, but he kicked her resulting in a swollen knee.
Judge Simms was informed that the defendant had one previous conviction for assault, for which he was placed on probation for 12 months in 2013.
Garda Cahill agreed with the Mr Connolly’s assessment that his client was ‘a little bit intoxicated’ at the time.
‘By his own admission, he had a few pints before the flight and that may have something to do with missing the boarding call,’ he told the court.
Mr Connolly said that his client ‘had not been out of the country for many years’ and acted stupidly and impulsively on the day in question.
While the garda conceded that Kehoe was not a problem when he dealt with him, he did add that there had been ‘a significant amount of confrontation’ during the course of the incident.
Mr Connolly finally added that his client, who remains on bail, was taking medication to treat his ADHD and that he was apologetic in relation to the whole incident.
Judge Simms adjourned sentencing until April 25 to allow Kehoe time to complete a restorative justice service programme.