Behind bars: The evil brothers who attacked and tried to ‘butcher’ garda
Pair get sentences of six years and twoand-a-half years over horrific stabbing of uniformed officer
TWO brothers who tried to ‘butcher’ a garda ‘like an animal’ have received combined jail sentences totalling eight-and-a-half years at the Central Criminal Court.
The court was previously told that Garda Alan Murphy was responding to reports that a man had been stabbed in Inchicore, Dublin 8, when he was attacked by the Quinn brothers.
Gavin Quinn, 28, pinned Garda Murphy to the ground as his younger brother Lee Quinn, 27, tried to stab the uniformed officer in the eye with a six-inch kitchen knife and later slashed him across the head, the court was told.
Gavin Quinn, of Tyrone Place, Inchicore, later pleaded guilty to assaulting a peace officer in the execution of his duty, contrary to Section 19(1) of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, at St Vincent’s Street West, Inchicore, Dublin 8, on March 30, 2020.
Lee Quinn, of Keeper Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause serious harm to Garda Murphy on the same date at the same location.
Both men had been due to stand trial for the attempted murder of
‘He might have lost his life’
Garda Murphy and a jury had been sworn in. But they were rearraigned at the Central Criminal Court on March 1 after the DPP accepted their pleas of guilty to the lesser charges.
Before sentencing yesterday, Judge Eileen Creedon said Lee Quinn was facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment while the maximum sentence that could be handed down to Gavin Quinn was seven years.
The judge noted that Gavin Quinn had become aggressive and threatening to Garda Murphy, leading the officer to believe that he [Gavin Quinn] may have been the aggressor that day. However, Garda Murphy then became aware that Gavin Quinn was the injured party, she said.
Referring to Lee Quinn, Judge Creedon said he had attempted to stab the garda in the abdomen, connecting with his stab vest, and went on to slash him in the head with a knife.
The Central Criminal Court heard during last month’s sentence hearing that Garda Murphy had ‘no doubt in his mind’ he would be dead today if it weren’t for the assistance of Dublin Fire Brigade officers, who pulled Lee Quinn away from him moments after the knife-wielding attacker had slashed the officer across the head.
Judge Creedon said Garda Murphy’s account of events had been supported by Dublin Fire Brigade.
Passing sentence on both men yesterday, the judge said Garda Murphy had provided a victim impact statement in which he said he and his colleague had the sole intention of protecting all individuals that day.
Garda Murphy had said the incident had a detrimental impact on his life and that the event crossed his mind on a daily basis,’ she said.
‘Garda Murphy speaks of the confusion he felt when Gavin Quinn attacked him from behind while Lee Quinn was on top of him. He said that without the Dublin Fire Brigade he might have lost his life,’ she continued.
Lee Quinn was assessed as being at high risk of reoffending and he had a propensity for violence, the judge said.
The probation report confirmed that he was a young man with a distorted use of violence, she added. Lee Quinn has previous convictions for making threats to kill and for threatening and abusive behaviour in a public place.
The aggravating factors in the case of Lee Quinn included that he had consciously brought a knife to the scene and had used it to attack a clearly uniformed guard.
‘He went on to stab Garda Murphy in the head and would have stabbed him further if he had not been restrained,’ she added.
Having regard to the gravity of the offence, the judge set a headline sentence of eight years.
In mitigation, the court took into account his guilty plea and reduced the eight-year sentence to seven years. She suspended the final year of the sentence on condition that Lee Quinn engage with additional services. The sentence was backdated to when he was taken into custody on March 20, 2020.
Passing sentence on Gavin Quinn, Judge Creedon observed that he had denied assaulting and restraining Garda Murphy. She added that Gavin Quinn maintained that he had drunk a bottle of whisky and consumed two grams of cocaine so he could not recall the details of the offence.
The judge said Gavin Quinn had limited insight and awareness of the injuries to the victim and that he had a capacity for violent offending. His previous convictions include assault and the production of a knife.
Judge Creedon set the headline sentence at four years and took into account Gavin Quinn’s guilty plea and the apologies offered through his barrister.
She imposed a sentence of four years imprisonment on Gavin Quinn, with the final year suspended on account of his guilty plea.
She further reduced the threeyear sentence by six months on account that he engage with probation services.
His two-and-a-half year sentence was backdated to June 5, 2020.
‘A distorted use of violence’