Man who pointed a loaded shotgun at gardai faces 5 years in prison

Byrne, 40, pleads guilty over firearm charge

A GUNMAN caught with a loaded handgun by gardai had previously pointed a shotgun at officers and held up a taxi driver in a getaway bid after an armed robbery.

Trevor Byrne, 40, faces a minimum of five years in prison having pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to possessi on of a l oaded

9mm Luger- caliber

Radom 35 at a house in Woodf o r d G r o v e ,

C l o n d a l k i n ,

S outh Dublin , on November 15 last year.

The accused, of

C a p p a g h R o a d ,

Fi ngl as , went on trial at the Central

Cr i mi n a l C o u r t l ast month but six days into the trial he decided to p l e a d guilty to possession of the handgun and the plea was accepted by the State.

Two charges of possession of ammunition and another of possession of cash that he knew to be, the proceeds of crime, wil l be t aken i nto account by three judges when t h e y p a s s s e n t e n c e o n December 21.

A t a s e n t e n c i n g hearing yesterday, Det Supt Derek Maguire told the court Byrne had 40 previous convictions.

The most rel evant occurred i n April 2005 when he was convicted o f o f f e n c e s i n c l u d i n g possession of a RAID Armed Response Unit loaded shotgun, unlawful seizure of vehicles and robbery of an offlicence.

The garda said Byrne had raided the premises in Santry and was pursued by officers.

When gardai cars blocked him in, he pointed a gun at them and got into an unmarked Garda car in a bid to escape.

He also held a gun to a taxidriver’s head during the pursuit but was stopped and arrested.

John Byrne SC for the State said the minimum sentence for the current offence is five years and the maximum is 14.

The accused’s lawyer will outline mitigating factors to the court on December 21 ahead of sentencing.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Michael Walsh , sai d he doubted “it would be possible to dispute” the headline sentence suggested by the DPP.