Armed Response Unit were called to Jinks Avenue arrest

A RESIDENT of Jinks Avenue has been found guilty of resisting a garda during an arrest at his residence at Sligo District Court.

Slawomir Gendola, 43, from Jinks Avenue had denied the charge of resisting garda David Finnerty that occurred at Jinks Avenue on December 4 last year.

He was jailed for four months for the offence, after a lengthy contested case. The court heard that members of the Armed Response Unit, who were in Sligo at the time, were called in to assist with the arrest of the defendant. Garda Finnerty told the court that gardaí were called to a domestic dispute at the stated address.

There was shouting and the front door was open, and the man’s partner told gardaí that the defendant had hit her on the face. She had a cut lip.

The defendant was holding a knife in his closed hand and put it beside the table.

While the defendant was being cautioned outside the house, he “spun away” from Garda Finnerty and resisted arrest and he struggled with Garda Denis Fitzgerald and all three ended up on the ground.

Pepper spray was used on the defendant, but to no effect and the Armed Response Unit were called in to help in his arrest.

Mr McGovern said his client would say that gardaí asked him to go outside.

The garda said he knew the defendant from before.

Mr McGovern asked the garda if he knew that the defendant had made complaints to garda authorities about his alleged treatment.

The garda said he was not aware of the complaints.

He added that he took a statement from the alleged injured party “there and then” and the defendant was in the back of the patrol van when the statement was taken.

The defendant had initially got past Garda Finnerty but he was “stopped by Garda Fitzgerald”.

Mr McGovern asked the garda if he was aware that the defendant had an issue with Garda Fitzgerald and that they did not get on.

Garda Finnerty said he was not aware of any such matter. Mr McGovern said his client would tell the court that he was peaceful with the gardaí, but they were not peaceful towards him.

Garda Denis Fitzgerald gave corroborative evidence.

He said there was a lot of shouting at the scene and the defendant had a flick knife which he placed near a table. Both parties came down the stairs and Ms Brady alleged that she had been assaulted.

The defendant was very aggressive and made a dive to get back into the house to attack Ms Brady and Garda Fitzgerald got between them.

The defendant lashed out. He and the two gardaí went to ground and the Armed Response Unit was called. Garda Fitzgerald said the defendant shouted abuse about Garda Fitzgerald and his colleagues while he was in the van all the way to Ballymote Garda Station.

The defendant was so agitated that he had to be placed in a cell. He was very agitated, jumping around the place, and the witness feared for his own and his colleagues’ safety.

When Mr McGovern asked the garda if he had “grabbed” the defendant during the arrest, the latter replied: “He resisted arrest.”

Mr McGovern asked the garda how he made the arrest.

The garda said he stopped the defendant from going back into the house.

He tried to put the defendant in handcuffs, but the defendant kept lashing out and had to be put to the ground.

Mr McGovern said the defendant would say there was a major history between him and Garda Fitzgerald. “Are you aware of it?” asked the solicitor. “He says you don’t like him and there are matters in different courts.”

Garda Fitzgerald said he treated all people with respect. He added that he was not here to like or to be liked. “I am here to do my job,” he said

Garda John Dolan of the Armed Response Unit said they got a call to go to the assistance of colleagues.

When they arrived, they went to the aid of their colleagues.

Garda Finnerty was talking to a lady at the door.

Garda Fitzgerald was trying to calm down the defendant.

Under cross-examination from Mr

McGovern, he said the defendant and Garda Fitzgerald were on the ground and Garda Fitzgerald had one arm on either side of the defendant and he was kneeling on the ground.

This witness said he did not know how the handcuffs were put on the defendant.

The defendant, Slawomir Gendola, who spoke very rapidly and was hard to understand, told the court that gardaí had been at the residence before. He claimed that Garda Fitzgerald had harassed him before and “he does not like me”.

The defendant claimed he was hiding the knife because he feared his partner might harm herself.

He said he waited outside and asked the gardaí why they were arresting him. He agreed under-cross-examination from Inspector Barry Doyle that the gardaí were just doing their job. He added that he was not expecting to be arrested.

The defendant said the knife was a fishing knife belonging to his son and he left it at the table.

In convicting the defendant, who had a previous conviction for robbery abroad, Judge Kevin Kilrane said the gardaí were very concerned about the situation in Jinks Avenue and gone there in some force.

The defendant was asked to go outside, and he did so.

They arrested the defendant for a breach of the peace, and this was after hearing what Ms Brady had said, what they had seen and there was an allegation that he had a knife.

It would have been irresponsible not to arrest the defendant.

He was pepper sprayed, but given the state he was in, “it only hopped off him”. Gardaí had to physically overcome him with the aid of the Armed Response Unit.

The defendant claimed that Garda Fitzgerald had some form of ill-will towards and that the garda had an axe to grind from previous encounters. The garda rejected this and said he treated him with respect.

And when the defendant said he was ill, Garda Fitzgerald brought him to Sligo University Hospital.

But, even in the hospital, he was shouting and roaring abuse.This was in keeping with the defendant’s aggression.

He had cast aspersions on the gardaí who were doing their duty and trying to calm a serious situation.

The defendant also had a vicious knife on his person, and you don’t carry it for no reason.

The defendant continued to be aggressive in court (on the day of the hearing) and accused the gardaí of using unreasonable force and there was no need to arrest him at all.

The judge said: “He is a very violent man and the resistance was so serious that it must be a jail sentence”.

Judge Kilrane jailed the defendant for four months.

Leave to appeal to the circuit court was set in his own bond of €100 with an independent bond of €2,100, of which €700 must be lodged in cash and surety was to be approved.