Suspended sentence for 35-year-old Donegal man who assaulted garda

A Dungloe man, who admitted assaulting a garda, has been given a five-months jail sentence suspended for 20 months, at the district court.  

John Paul Boyle (35) of Ard Crone, Dungloe  was given a consecutive three-months suspended jail sentence on the same terms for obstruction of a garda. 

The defendant pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda Michael Carroll at Main Street, Dungloe on June 26 last year and of obstructing the garda at the same location and on the same date. 

Related charges of being drunk and a danger to himself and others, using threatening and abusive language and failing to comply with the instructions of a peace officer were taken into consideration. 

Inspector Seamus McGonigle told the court that on June 26 last year Garda Carroll got a report of a drunk man near the Aldi Supermarket where it was alleged that he was drunk and threatening customers. 

When Garda Carroll arrived, the defendant started to walk away. 

The garda went after the defendant with the purpose of searching him. 

The defendant told the garda that this was not going to happen. 

The garda had to draw his baton to effect an arrest as the defendant struggled with him. 

But the defendant ran away again and the garda had to draw his baton again and use pepper spray to arrest the defendant. 

When interviewed initially on July 12 the defendant denied assaulting Garda Carroll. 

The court heard the defendant had 38 previous convictions with six for common assault. 

Defence Solicitor Frank Dorrian said that while the defendant was aggressive, he was trying to escape and not trying to assault the garda. 

He was drunk in the middle of the day which was unseemly. 

The defendant came from a troubled background, the court heard, and he had navigated it to the best of his ability. 

Since 2016 he had been in Sweden where he worked at shuttering and did well there and came back to Ireland when this episode happened 

He regretted what happened to Garda Carroll, and he did not mean it and it should not have happened. 

Mr Dorrian said the job in Sweden was still alive and he stayed home to deal with these matters. 

The defendant also had an offer of work in Birmingham. 

He was 35 and had struggled with all sorts of emotional and addiction issues all his life. 

The defendant had made efforts to better himself and he was apologetic. 

Judge Raymond Finnegan said he would give the defendant a chance with the suspended jail sentences. 

“That gives him a chance to prove himself or to hang himself," said the judge.