Garda was stabbed and fell into bath, court hears
Gardaí, who were repeatedly stabbed after foiling a gang trying to rob captives they were holding in a north city suburb, thought they were going to be killed by a balaclava-masked man wielding a knife, a court has heard today.
Garda James Hendrick has told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court it "felt like an eternity" as his colleague Garda David Comer was "fighting for his life" while being stabbed he fell into a bath.
Gda Hendrick said he thought he was also "going to die" after being cornered when trying to force the frenzied knifeman off Gda Comer with one hand and call for help with his phone in the other hand.
Xiang Cheng (aged 25), and Qian Cheng aka Jian Gong Ten (aged 28), both of no fixed abode, have pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and the false imprisonment of Ms Xiao Mei Ma, aka Doris; Ms Ju Liu Yong, aka Angela; and Mr Yu Ting, aka Austin, at Main Street, Raheny on July 13, 2005.
They have pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing Garda David Comer serious harm and to assaulting Garda James Hendrick causing him harm, on the same occasion.
The trial is now reaching its closing stages and is expected to conclude early next week.
Gda Hendrick told prosecuting counsel, Mr Bernard Condon BL, that when they gained entry into the house after meeting a frightened Chinese woman who had escaped, he found a man tied up in the kitchen and heard Gda Comer going upstairs and shout "police" .
During a struggle with a man wearing a balaclava in the bathroom, Gda Comer fell backwards into the bath on top of the man and "in a frenzied style attack" was stabbed a number of times in the back.
Gda Hendrick said Gda Comer shouted "Jesus Christ" about three times as he was stabbed and thrust his chest forward each time in an effort to get out while he (Gda Hendrick) was pushing the masked man down with his left hand as he radioed for assistance with his right.
Gda Hendrick said Gda Comer was in the bath for about 30 seconds but eventually pulled himself out after what "felt like an eternity" and he (witness) continued to hold the man down while getting stabbed in his wrist and chest in the process.
"When you know the colleague you were laughing with in the car earlier is now in the bath fighting for his life its feels like a long time," Gda Hendrick told Mr John Aylmer SC (with Ms Sandra Frayne BL), defending Qian Cheng.
He said Gda Comer was struggling for breath and said "I am f****d" before falling to his knees on the landing. Gda Hendrick said he then saw the man with the knife who had attacked Gda Comer come out of the bathroom and he saw another man coming up the stairs. "I thought I was going to die," he said.
He said the man coming out of the bathroom then ran past them down the stairs and he "presumed" they both ran out the front door. He said he felt "certain" that Gda Comer would die because of his injuries.
Gda Hendrick agreed with Mr Ciaran O'Loughlin SC (with Mr Kerida Naidoo BL), defending Xiang Cheng, that he brought Gda Comer down the stairs and laid him down on the ground outside where Gda Comer kept saying to him: "Jimmy, I am fucked."
The trial continues before Judge Tony Hunt and a jury of six men and six women.
