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A DUBLIN MAN who left a garda with life-altering leg injuries when he jammed him between a stolen car and a patrol vehicle has been jailed for seven years.
Patrick McDonagh (26) of Bath Road, Balbriggan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to causing serious harm to Garda Ciaran Murrihy at Clonuske Rise, Hamlet Lane, Balbriggan on 29 August 2015.
He further pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment of Gda Murrihy, assaulting Garda Stephen Hughes and Garda Vincent Turley and unlawful use and criminal damage of a vehicle at the same location and date.
Garda Murrihy, who is still in a wheelchair, described in his victim impact statement how he was “haunted” by the vision of McDonagh driving the stolen car directly at him.
“Stole my life”
Gda Murrihy said he had since gone from being a proud Garda and active father-of-two to feeling “useless”.
“I was so active and now I spend all day, every day doing nothing… it was not meant to be like this,” he said in the statement read out in court by Sergeant Padraig Lynch.
Gda Murrihy outlined how he had been in a “good place” in his 14-year career and had loved the way his children saw him as “their big, strong dad”.
He also paid tribute to his wife, who he said helped him with everything. He described missing work and his formerly busy lifestyle and added that he now only had medical appointments to plan for.
He said McDonagh “stole my life from me and has left me with so little”.
McDonagh has 19 previous convictions, including drunk driving, robbery and aggravated burglary.
Judge Martin Nolan imposed the seven year sentence on the most serious charge.
He imposed a concurrent sentence of three and a half years for the offence of assaulting Gda Hughes. The sentences will date from 31 August 2015 when McDonagh went into custody.
Stolen
Sgt Lynch told Kathleen Noctor BL, prosecuting, that Gda Murrihy, Gda Hughes and Garda Lucy Woods spotted the stolen Citroen parked in the estate.
He said McDonagh reversed the vehicle as the gardaí approached it on foot from either side and crashed into the patrol car behind, jamming Gda Murrihy.
Gda Murrihy fell on the ground as the Citroen continued moving backwards over his ankle.
McDonagh then drove the vehicle forward while Gda Murrihy was on the ground and sped around the corner into a cul-de-sac, where he crashed the car into a wall and attempted to flee on foot.
He assaulted Gda Turley as he was being arrested and made no admissions during interview, but entered an early guilty plea.
Sgt Lynch accepted that the incident happened very quickly when Garnet Orange SC, defending, suggested it was like “something in a bad movie”.
Mr Orange submitted that his client had been intoxicated on drugs and had not been fully aware of what was going on that night, but had not set out to deliberately harm the gardaí.
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The same Sun newspaper that called Charles Kennedy a ‘Spineless Reptile’ for suggesting there wasn’t a strong enough case for war. The same paper that had a ‘Sun Backs Blair’ front page.
I wonder how long before the U-turn on the Brexit.
It was also before Blair fell out of favour with Murdoch because Wendi started fantasizing about Blair’s buttocks…
In fairness to the Brits, at least they have these sort of enquiries. It would never happen in most parts of the world and if it did, then the “Leader” would be found to be innoncent of all wrong doing.
Any enquiry would cost millions, last decades and find no one guilty cos apparently that’s better than doing nothing
@Blue Sky
Don’t kid yourself for one minute into thinking that the most secretive information is allowed to see the light of day. We in Ireland should know that only too well.
Case in point, consider the lengths Britain went to to thwart the work of Judge Stevens and his team in his investigation into allegations of collusion by the British state with loyalist paramilitaries:
- From a 30,000 page report which Britain had beforehand committed to making public, they ended up releasing only 30 heavily censored/redacted pages. Other interesting points to note about the Stevens investigations:
- Judge Stevens afterwards stated that the obstruction he faced in his inquiry from the British ‘security’ forces “was cultural in its nature and widespread within parts of the army and the RUC”.
- When Stevens himself felt that he had enough hard evidence to convict at least 25 senior military personnel, the DPP did not bring forward ANY prosecutions
- The British Secretary of State at the time of his report, attempted to prevent The Sunday Times from investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire at the offices of the Steven’s Inquiry which destroyed other crucial evidence
- He described evidence from the British Army as “outright lies”
- The acting head of RUC Special Branch, Brian Fitzsimmons, became “evasive” when evidence was requested on Britains most senior man in the UDA, Brian Nelson. When Nelson’s fingerprints were found all over security documents, Fitzsimmons response to the investigating team was “We can’t help you with this man”, while further evidence relating to Nelson was taken from the investigaing team. Despite this, enough evidence was still found by the team to initiate an arrest, but Nelson was tipped off and escaped to England on the day of the planned arrest.
- The same night, the offices of the Stevens team, within the RUC headquarters in Carrickfergus, was destroyed by a fire. When two members of the team came upon it, they discovered the water had been removed from the fire protection system and the telephone lines had been cut. Of this fire, Stevens stated “”This incident, in my opinion, has never been adequately investigated and I believe it was a deliberate act of arson.”
@Blue Sky
Don’t kid yourself for one minute into thinking that the most secretive information is allowed to see the light of day. We in Ireland should know that only too well.
Case in point, consider the lengths Britain went to to thwart the work of Judge Stevens and his team in his investigation into allegations of collusion by the British state with loyalist paramilitaries:
- From a 30,000 page report which Britain had beforehand committed to making public, they ended up releasing only 30 heavily censored/redacted pages. Other interesting points to note about the Stevens investigations:
- Judge Stevens afterwards stated that the obstruction he faced in his inquiry from the British ‘security’ forces “was cultural in its nature and widespread within parts of the army and the RUC”.
- When Stevens himself felt that he had enough hard evidence to convict at least 25 senior military personnel, the DPP did not bring forward ANY prosecutions
- The British Secretary of State at the time of his report, attempted to prevent The Sunday Times from investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire at the offices of the Steven’s Inquiry which destroyed other crucial evidence
- He described evidence from the British Army as “outright lies”
- The acting head of RUC Special Branch, Brian Fitzsimmons, became “evasive” when evidence was requested on Britains most senior man in the UDA, Brian Nelson. When Nelson’s fingerprints were found all over security documents, Fitzsimmons response to the investigating team was “We can’t help you with this man”, while further evidence relating to Nelson was taken from the investigaing team. Despite this, enough evidence was still found by the team to initiate an arrest, but Nelson was tipped off and escaped to England on the day of the planned arrest.
- The same night, the offices of the Stevens team, within the RUC headquarters in Carrickfergus, was destroyed by a fire. When two members of the team came upon it, they discovered the water had been removed from the fire protection system and the telephone lines had been cut. Of this fire, Stevens stated “”This incident, in my opinion, has never been adequately investigated and I believe it was a deliberate act of arson.”
What has any of that got to do with Iraq, Blair and the Chilcot report? Only an SF apparatchik would turn this thread into a rant about the RUC, loyalist paramilitaries and the British army.
It was in response to a comment above where the poster afforded credit to the British state for having such enquiries – his/her implication being that these enquiries are open, transparent and effective. I was simply pointing out that these enquiries are often only allowed to “discover” so much by the state, and so I offered the Stevens Report as just one example of where the state actively impeded such an enquiry, despite having commissioned the enquiry itself. Although it’s a shame to see that you are so quick to regard any reference to the British state’s collusion in so many hundreds of murders here, and the ongoing search for justice by the families, as a “rant” and immediately drag party politics into it. Grow up.
I agree Oracle, this sort rave on reliving the past again and again…
Gus – of you had a member of your family murdered by your own state – would you stay quiet about it, accept it and refuse to seek justice? Would you tell those who ARE that position – to their face – to “stop raving on”?
See what I mean about accountability, Tyrone? There you are waxing lyrical about Judge Stevens – at least steps were being taken (however reluctantly). Could you please remind us how many inquiries or internal investigations Sinn Fein has ever conducted on the actions of its military wing? For example, why its operatives chose to plant a bomb outside a McDonald’s in Warrington, miles away from any viable military target? Why they refuse to give away the final resting places of the ‘disappeared’?
“See what I mean about accountability, Tyrone? There you are waxing lyrical about Judge Stevens – at least steps were being taken (however reluctantly).”
Steps taken!!? They only released 30 heavily redacted pages of a 3000 page report – after using every available avenue open to them to hinder the investigations team!
“See what I mean about accountability, Tyrone? There you are waxing lyrical about Judge Stevens – at least steps were being taken (however reluctantly).”
Republicans have carried out many’s an investigation. For instance, contrary to your own knowledge (where have you been living in recent years) most of those disappeared by the IRA have been found as a result of such investigations – a fact recognised by the Commission for the location of the remains. But that is to miss the entire point – you are trying to suggest that the state forces – to which we pay our taxes – should be held to the same standards as paramilitary groupings. An absolutely absurd suggestion.
An absolute war criminal, bring him before the Hague
Not a chance of that happening
Never mind the Hague, fu€k him off a boat in the middle of the Atlantic
Dr David kelly said it was all sexed up even before the war started, took this inquiry 7 years to come to the same conclusion. Wow.
What about George W. This was his party and he bullied Blair into it. As did all the Conservative party sponsors who made billions out of rebuilding Iraq. Blair is spineless but it was the British people who voted him in and who backed him.
to be fair, 2 million marched in London against the war, largest political demonstration ever in Britain and opinion polls showed public equally split on the issue with a majority of Labour voters against the war, the anti-war sentiment increased the more apparent it became what a failure the invasion was. I think though you’re being too kind to Blair when you say he was bullied by Bush, he always was an enthusiastic support of doctrine of “humanitarian” intervention.
Evil little weasel.
Now is the time for the Irish Government to acknowledge that the Iraque war WAS wrong and end the use of Shannon civilian airport as a stop over for US military.
Sociopath in every essence of the word and there is plenty more like him in the upper echelons of power.
Incorrect – but hey, why not throw a label out there.
Blair brought this on himself, then later went to the Catholic church for total absolution.
ehhh,
“I take full responsibility but I don’t take the blame ” Tony Blair
He converted to Catholicism as a grown man……of course he’s deluded
This PM put ideology before pragmatism, absolutism before rationality, extreme response before a proportionate approach.
Bush Junior and Blair prayed together before the invasion. Religion is a poor guide for politicians. Religion is not a sensible basis for policy making.
Many Iraqis were killed and the seeds of ISIS were planted.
Blair is now a rather extreme type of Brompton Roman Catholic with very strident and authoritarian views on matters.
Absolutists such as Blair are condemned to repeat their mistakes, if allowed.
Blair and Bush are the godfathers of ISIS and well they know it..
Bush and Blair ain’t religious…not in the sense that you think….religion is only for the plebs anyways.
He was responsible. But he is not a monster. Sadam Hussain was a monster.
Who put Saddam there?
Agree. He was motivated by a desire to rid the world of evil which was Saddam. Unfortunately , this particular evil contained a bigger evil. As we all now know.
“Contained” as kept the lid on.
He was motivated by his desire to get rid of the evil that was Saddam???…I’d say you were hanging on every word he said yesterday, Mags….Pure bull. He was motivated by money and with that power….full stop.
I think that it was a combination of religious extremism, the lust for power conferred by the supposedly special Anglo American relationship and the promises of riches and influence to come.
Blair and Bush prayed together. That was a truly bad sign.
A Christian fundamentalist in the US aligned with a Christian fundamentalist in the UK. A fatal combination.
The price will continue be paid for centuries.m
Lez they don’t want to listen. Heads stuck somewhere unpleasent.
Blair prayed to God for enlightenment and validation. He got his response.
Religious zealots make for political leaders with dismally poor judgment.
Balir and Bush engaged in a religiously inspired crusade in the Middle East. They have left a terrible legacy of internecine conflict.
When is a lie not a lie when a politician says it
I knew there was something very, very wrong about this man when I saw his first interview in response to the death of Princess Diana – it was pure theatre. I recall thinking it could have been Kevin Costner up there.
Two years later, and well before the attack on Iraq, he went on to play a major part in the illegal invasion and final annihilation of Yugoslavia – a crime he will most likely never answer for.
A piece of filth.
David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly David Kelly
My opinion now he was.murdered no doubt…..all roads lead to ……….GIP
Not forgetting robin cook. Who just happened to fall off a mountain in Scotland .
It wouldn’t surprise me if David Kelly was murdered, didn’t the UK Labour Party Blairites try to shut Jeremy Corbyn up before the Chilcott enquiry was released. Now that he has apologised on behalf of the party it leaves the way open for civil prossecutions by the families of deceased and wounded soldiers.
Burn in hell.
In fairness to Blair, when he says he’d make the same decision again I think he’s referring to the context of the time with the info available. With the benefit of hindsight not even Blair would be mad enough to want to repeat the mistake.
@avina. Correct.
Erk… He’d do the same which is to invade a country based on some information that was known as a pile of rubbish. I don’t call that fairness. Certainly not after hundreds of thousands of people died because he’s a hypocrit.
*Known with the benefit of hindsight as a pile of rubbish. It was certainly completely wrong to launch a war whilst there were still other options available, and the weapons inspectors should have been given more time, not to mention the flawed intelligence being subjected to greater scrutiny.
Colin Powell himself admitted it was based on a lie… This means the war was not a question of “exploring other options”, this war had other goals. Many people think it was for economic interests…
Yes, it most likely was based on a lie – a lie from one or more Iraqis with a vested interest in getting rid of Saddam. Like I said, the intelligence was completely flawed and should have been subject to far greater scrutiny.
I’ll ask you the same question I’ve asked anyone who thinks it was a grand plan from Bush, Blair and other neocons: if it was all an elaborate conspiracy why didn’t they just plant chemical weapons that could then be ‘discovered’ and paraded to an awaiting world media, thereby justifying the reasons for going to war and avoiding all the current fallout?
Don’t be blinded by this no one wins wars from the beginning of time – but beware of the new army coming along in the not to distant future EU want to build an army and who do you think will head it up Germany? The very people that were never supposed to be allowed to have an army again!! Watch this space
Oh please! This sort of stupidity needs to be called out. Think before posting such drivel.
What’s all the fuss!Brits were and still are
Worlds greatest terriorists
America has that accolade but certainly, you do have a solid second place.
If you were acting in good faith Tony then who supplied the evidence and who promoted this evidence. Dr. Kelly said there was no WMD……i truly believe now he was murdered……..
The events of 2011 — when the Etonian boy scout troop responsible for making foreign policy in Downing Street led our shambolic intervention in Libya to topple President Gaddafi — suggest that less has been learned from 2003 than we might hope.
Max Hastings
Blair can thank his lucky stars casualities were not an awful higher due to the fact most of the tailiban were as sound as a pound,a decent bunch of lads.For example when the British General was handing over the keys of camp Bastion the local Tailiban agreed it could be done under the cover of darkness,no photograhers no camera crews and instead of confiscating British millitary equipment the Tailban allowed the equipment to be stored at the lightly defended Basra airport where their was an agreement in place not to mortar or shoot at the troops as they prepared to fly home.It turns out their was no need for the equipment to be moved to the airport because they ended leaving it behind them anyway.
You’re getting confused between Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a classic example of a politician who refuses to listen to mass protest against initiation of conflict in the ME in 2003. Millions in London marched in protest as I recall. Terms like ‘monster’ attributed to Saddam are so conceited. When Westerners finally realise that intervention in other states is none of their business the better. 2 pretexts need to have been satisfied here 1)a unanimous Un resolution against the government in situ and 2) an imminent threat to the security of the country involved. I recall Colin Powells pathetic presentation providing evidence of WMD. Poor man. A high school kid would have seen through the illogical mumbo jumbo he presented that day. Whether Blair is brought before the Hague or not is questionable but what is certain is he will live the rest of his life destroyed by the guilt of what he has unleashed acutely on 2 continents and in general in all of the others.
Depends how far back you want to go!They
Shipped 10,000,000 black slaves through the port ofLiverpool , back in the day!To service
Their Colonies taken by force,after terrorising
The locals in any amount of Countries you might want to name.In IRELANDS case,Cromwell and Tryvelyn come too mind!!
Hang him would be some form of justice, although he could have little complaints about being torchered to death. Realise it into the middle of Bagdad and see how it fairs.
I can’t stand the idea of deat penalty. Even in this case.
Shameful, mournful and a monster of delusion, we’re taking about Lynn Boylans comments about how British Soldiers were killed needlessly right ??,
What a load of auld bollx….The UK had only 5% of the military forces in Iraq. But reading the comments on here one would think that the UK invaded Iraq on its own. Things he said regarding his support for Bush have been taken out of context. In fact he was advising Bush Cheney&Co not to invade. In the end he and the UK government made a decision. Leadership and good government is all about making decisions and that’s what they did. This report was fair in relation to what happened after the War, but in my mind not fair in relation to the invasion itself. Syria has been going on for so long due to to the fact World leaders are afraid to make decisions. Obama in particular is guilty of that. Just look at his reaction to his red line issue on the use of chemical weapons by Assad…nothing. Also the touchy feely approach to the Arab Spring and its catastrophic aftermath, is also directly attributed to this fear of putting boots on the ground. We will all suffer in the future because of inaction of World leaders in conflict zones around the world. Finally, the Libby Media and left have had it in for Blair because he according to them moved the labour party to the right….he is a traitor according to them and for that he cannot be forgiven.
I can’t understand people that have ever believed a word this monster Blair has ever uttered. Blair, Mandelson, Campbell and co went into politics to make as much money as they possible could. They had and have no morals. Blair secretly coaches dodgy businessmen that have to appear before these select comities( for a couple of million) His tears were so fake yesterday that he should be be nominated for a bafta. This vile man couldn’t cars less if every child in Iraq died a horrible death. It’s all about ££££££ and what’s in it for him.
How did clonan sneak his tuppence into this article:)
An what about it , he will never be held accountable for it or go to jail , waste of ink
I’m off to watch a few episodes of The Thick of It!! :)
All roads….GIP
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