A WESTPORT man who kicked a female garda ‘seven or eight times’ in the chest when he was trying to escape from a garda car was told that his behaviour ‘justified a prison sentence’.
Alan Kay of Carrabaun, Westport appeared before Castlebar Circuit Court charged with assaulting a teenager outside a fast-food restaurant and also assaulting Garda Siobhán Clancy who was arresting him in connection with the assault. Mr Kay (20) pleaded guilty to the charges and sentencing was adjourned until June for the preparation of a probation report.
Garda Clancy told the court that on September 11, 2008 Mr Kay assaulted a 15-year-old boy from Clifden in the Blue Thunder fast-food restaurant at 12.20am. She said that the defendant hit the victim eight or nine times in an unprovoked attack and after the attack ‘he took off running’.
Garda Clancy said she recognised Mr Kay on the CCTV footage and later found him near the Leisure Centre and attempted to arrest him. He struggled when she tried to put the handcuffs on him and told her he would go peacefully if they didn’t put them on him.
When driving towards the station, Garda Clancy claimed that Mr Kay asked her and Garda Jim Corrigan would they get in trouble if he hurt himself trying to get out of the car. At that moment he tried to open the door and had to be restrained by Garda Jim Corrigan.
Garda Clancy stopped the car and went to assist her colleague but as she did, Mr Kay swiveled in the back seat and hit her seven or eight times in the chest and rib cage with his two feet.
They eventually got the handcuffs on him and he called her a ‘bitch’ and a ‘c**t’ and said he hoped she died.
Mr Kay refused to get out of the patrol car when they got to the station and had to be restrained in the station.
Garda Clancy explained that she was wearing her stab-prove vest but suffered pain to her shoulder and chest and also had to get an ECG for direct trauma to the heart. She also has a permanent crack in her neck and had a scan on her kidney after there was blood in her urine. She is still receiving treatment for her injuries.
The teenage victim of Mr Kay suffered a bloody nose and a cut under his right eye but has recovered from his injuries. Garda Clancy explained that he was with a group of teenagers who had been in Castlebar and stopped in Westport for food. She said they had done nothing wrong and their behaviour on the night was exceptional.
The court heard that Mr Kay had no previous convictions at the time but in April 2009, he received 150 hours community service in lieu of three months in jail for assault. Garda Clancy added she never received an apology from him in person.
Mr Eoin Garavan, BL for the defendant said his client had drank a bottle of vodka on the night and accepted the gravity of the offence.
He added that since this incident he was involved in a traffic accident and suffered a broken leg.
Judge Hunt said that what he did would ‘likely justify a prison sentence’ but added that because he had no previous convictions at the time he would seek a probation report before sentencing.
