A DISTRICT court judge has described a Clonakilty man’s behaviour following his arrest as ‘appalling’ after he kicked out at a garda telling him he would rip his head off and wreck his jaw.
Judge John King made the comment at Clonakilty District Court while dealing with the case of Brendan Buckley (55) who pleaded guilty to being drunk in a public place and two charges of using or engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in Clonakilty on December 20th 2023.
A charge of assault was withdrawn by the State.
Mr Buckley of apartment 1 Pearse Street, Clonakilty also pleaded guilty to the possession of cannabis in August 2023.
Insp Roisín O’Dea told the court that at 10.05pm on that night gardaí received a report of an extremely drunk male who was shouting and roaring incoherently on Pearse Street.
‘Gda Joe Maher took him away from the scene and Mr Buckley claimed he was assaulted by James Casey, owner of Casey’s Bar. He put his hands on Gda Maher’s neck to show him what happened,’ said Insp O’Dea.
‘They arrested him and brought him to the garda station where he kicked out at Gda Brian Noonan. When he was placed in a custody cell he shouted at Gda Noonan – ‘I will knock you out, you ginger pr**k, I will rip the head clean off you, I will wreck that garda’s jaw.’
The court heard that he continued to be abusive and threatening to gardaí while in custody. Insp O’Dea said he has 15 previous convictions with the most recent from 2019 when he failed to give his name and address to the sex offenders register and was fined €200.
The court also heard that he was caught in the possession of cannabis at Woodlands in Clonakilty in 2023 in a well-known drugs pick-up place in the town.
‘Gda Joe Grimes saw two men standing there. There was a strong smell of cannabis coming from them. Mr Buckley was searched and €50 worth of cannabis was found on him. He admitted it was for his own personal use,’ said Insp O’Dea.
Defence solicitor Colette McCarthy said her client, who used to operate a successful cobblers in Clonakilty, was suffering pains and aches and was using cannabis to deal with it. She said he still suffers from it and cannot work.
In relation to the public order incidents in December 2023, she said his client has always maintained that he was in fact assaulted by Mr Casey and that the cameras never lie.
‘He accepts he lashed out and his mouth ran off with him when he met the gardaí. He felt aggrieved as he was assaulted. Alcohol didn’t help and he apologises to the gardaí,’ said Ms McCarthy Judge King was shown CCTV footage from the incident on Pearse Street and later at Clonakilty Garda Station and said the accused is seen stalking Mr Casey outside the bar on Pearse Street.
‘I saw the accused throw a kick at him. Then the gardaí arrived and arrested him using some force to put him into the car,’ said Judge King.
‘The second incident in the station shows him initially being compliant but then he becomes aggressive to Gda Noonan and throws a kick at him. His behaviour was appalling.’
Judge King said that no matter what happened earlier that night, gardaí had nothing to do with that and were just doing their job.
‘He has had fines, community service orders and prison and none of them have worked. This would warrant a custodial sentence,’ said Judge King, who directed the preparation of a probation report on the accused and remanded him on continuing bail to appear in court again on May 20th. He convicted and fined him €300 for the possession of drugs, giving him three months to pay the fine.
