‘Prisoner with AIDS’ threw blood at garda, court told

A PRISONER who claimed to have AIDS threw a cup of his own blood into a garda’s face and hoped he would contract the disease, a judge has heard.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan said Garda Donal Hegarty, of Ballincollig, Co Cork, suffered stress for five months until assured his own and the prisoner’s blood samples were clear of HIV or Hepatitis C contamination.

Garda Hegarty told the High Court judge in a garda compensation claim that he had been jailer in the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork in April 2005 when a prisoner had been brought in on a public order offence.