Suspended sentence for man who violently resisted arrest
A criminal who violently resisted arrest by gardaí after they caught him taking part in an alleged drug transaction has been given a suspended sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt.
James Adair (aged 32) of Maple House, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, pulled Garda Dermot Moran to the ground and violently struggled with him as he tried to take him and another man out of a patrol car.
His co-accused, Declan Fagan (aged 32), of no fixed abode, bit down on the index finger of Gda Moran as the garda was trying to take him out of the patrol car when he became violent towards his colleague Garda Jacqueline Carolan. He will be sentenced later.
Judge Delahunt imposed a two-year sentence on Adair, suspended for three years, and 15 months probation.
A passing taxi driver and an off-duty prison officer had to come to the garda's assistance and all three struggled with the prisoner until he was eventually restrained and brought to a local garda station.
Both pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting both Gda Moran and Gda Carolan who were acting in the course of their duty on Thomas Street on February 28, 2007.
Mr John Quirke BL, prosecuting, said that the case involved "an element of common design".
Adair had eight previous convictions, which included road traffic and theft offences. He had not come to garda attention since the incident.
Detective Sergeant Paul Cleary said both Adair and Fagan had been put in the patrol car when Fagan started to swing out at Gda Carolan after she told him to take his hands out of his pocket.
Gda Moran stopped the car and when he tried to take Fagan out, the prisoner bit down on his finger. Adair then became aggressive and told Gda Moran to "f*** off" and leave Fagan alone.
Det Sgt Cleary told Mr Quirke that the gardai then saw Adair swallow what they believed was a small bag of drugs before he pulled Gda Moran to the ground and struggled with him.
Det Sgt Cleary agreed with Mr Luigi Rea BL, defending, that the prison officer later made a statement to gardaí saying that he had seen the men resist arrest but he had not seen either of them assault the gardaí.
He accepted that this is what the witness had said this but added that this man had arrived on the scene later on in the incident.
He further agreed that Fagan was the more aggressive of the two and while Adair did punch and kick out at the gardaí, few of these strikes actually made contact with them.
Mr Rea told Judge Delahunt that his client was now living in hostel accommodation and he had tried his best to deal with his drug addiction.
