Man with 44 previous convictions avoids jail after threatening a garda at his house

Man with 44 previous convictions avoids jail after threatening a garda at his house


Defendant arrived at garda’s house and told him he would ‘get him’


A Castlebar man with 44 previous convictions who called to the house of a Castlebar-based garda and threatened to ‘get’ him has escaped with a suspended sentence at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court on Friday last.
Martin McDonagh (26) of 125, Manor Village, Castlebar pleaded guilty to charges of threatening to damage property and failure to comply with the directions of a garda officer. He also appeared before Castlebar Circuit Court last week chargedwith violent disorder and the production of a carpet knife in a separate incident. He contested those charges and was found not guilty by a jury.
Sergeant Peter Hanley told the court that the matter arose from an initial case of mistaken identity on McDonagh’s behalf when he was being arrested one night. However, the following evening he called around to the house of Garda Martin Friel, threatening him and telling him ‘I will get you’.
Sergeant Hanley said that on April 28, 2012 gardaí were called to a public order incident at Supermac’s in Castlebar. McDonagh was involved in a verbal altercation with another man who alleged that McDonagh threw chips at him and called him names. Garda Conor Doyle spoke to both parties and neither wanted to make an official complaint. He directed both men to leave the area and while the first man did, McDonagh refused, saying he wanted to finish his ice-cream.

Threats
When he finished he still refused to go and had kept calling Garda Doyle ‘Marty’. He told Conor Doyle that he would call to his door later to ‘sort it out’. Garda Doyle asked what was he on about and McDonagh became ‘very aggressive’ and said he would call to his house and ‘burn it down’. He was arrested for failing to comply with the directions of a Garda officer and taken to Castlebar Garda Station. When he was released he took Garda Doyle’s station number and had continued calling him ‘Marty’ throughout.  
The following day, April 29, Garda Martin Friel was told of the incident on the assumption it was he that McDonagh was referring to. Garda Friel became concerned as McDonagh was then living next door to Garda Friel’s girlfriend’s parents and he was worried for their safety.
He called Martin McDonagh and explained to him that it wasn’t he who arrested him and that he had nothing to do with it. McDonagh said it wasn’t him he had a problem with, but the garda wearing the number MY286 - Garda Doyle.
Garda Friel asked McDonagh to come to the station so they could talk about it, at which stage McDonagh said he would call to Garda Friel’s house, on the Newport Road in Castlebar. Garda Friel asked McDonagh how did he know where he lived as his house is the opposite end of the town from where McDonagh was living. He told McDonagh to not call to the house.

‘I will get you boy’
Garda Friel finished work that evening at at 9.30pm there was a knock on his door. It was Martin McDonagh and Garda Friel asked him what was he doing there. McDonagh said ‘I’m not a blow-in to Castlebar and I know a lot of people’. Garda Friel asked him to leave and McDonagh came towards him with his fists clenched, saying ‘I will get you boy. Maybe not me but I’ve got contacts’. Garda Friel was worried at this stage, the court heard, as his girlfriend and her friend were in the house. He asked his girlfriend to ring the gardaí and McDonagh’s wife came over, asking McDonagh to come away.
The court heard that when Martin Friel’s girlfriend came to the door, McDonagh shouted ‘you’re a big man you f***ing pr**k you’ and again lifted his fists towards Martin Friel. He pushed McDonagh back and McDonagh again said ‘I will get you’ before leaving. He was arrested the following day and initially made no admissions.
Sergeant Hanley told the court McDonagh has 44 previous convictions for theft, assault, public order and road traffic charges.

‘Can’t handle drink’
Diarmuid Connolly, counsel for McDonagh, instructed by Laura Glennon, said he wasn’t going to cross-examine Sergeant Hanley as the incident spoke for itself. He said McDonagh was drunk on both nights and when asked if he did it said in a statement: ‘I was drunk. I don’t know. If I did it I apologise’. Mr Connolly said it wasn’t the most contrite apology but was an apology nonetheless.
He said his client ‘can’t handle drink’ and this was the heart of his problems.
The court was told that the charge of threatening to damage property carries a maximum sentence of ten years in jail.
Judge Carmel Stewart said that a Probation Report on McDonagh shows ‘some cause for concern’ but does ‘hold out some light too’. She noted that he had apologised and believed it was a genuine apology. She said alcohol was no excuse but a factor nonetheless. Sentencing him to two years, she said she had a mind to suspend only part of the sentence but not its entirety. However she took note that authorities and the Prison Services do not feel short sentences ‘serve any useful purpose’.
She suspended the two years in its entirety on the condition McDonagh engage with the Probation Services, fulfil an outstanding Community Service order for another matter which he had failed to fully comply with and abstain from intoxicants and undergo whatever addiction counselling is directed by the Probation Services.