Men threw cement bags at chasing Garda car

Two men in a stolen van driven by a 16-year-old girl at high speed tried to evade capture by a chasing Garda car by dumping a keg of beer, wooden crates, three bags of cement, a hammer, and two wooden planks in the path of the car.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said that “there was some sort of comic element to the chase and reminds one of an old black and white Ealing comedy”.

However, Judge Moran said that the 17km chase across north Clare in Feb 2011 was a very serious matter “and could have caused serious damage to the garda who was driving alone in the patrol car following them”.

Judge Moran said that the items were jettisoned by two men from the back of the moving van in front of the patrol car to impede it.

“These are all very substantial items, which could have done a lot of damage to the car and a lot of injury to the garda,” he said.

The driver of the Garda car, Garda Mary Fahy, said that the three cement bags burst on impact and caused a cloud of debris that made Garda Fahy lose sight of the road and her surroundings.

“The hammer was the only item that made contact with the Garda car on the bonnet,” said Garda Fahy. “I drove over the planks of wood and I swerved to avoid the keg of beer.”

She said she drove with sirens on and blue lights flashing, from Lahinch to outside the village of Inagh, where the van crashed.

Christy Donovan, aged 26, of Gleann Halting Site, Ennistymon, and Robert Molloy, aged 24, formerly of Marian Park, Tralee, but now living in Ennistymon, both pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment.

Garda Barry Comber said the girl has been dealt with through the juvenile diversion scheme.

Eimear Carey, defending Donovan, said: “Mr Donovan wasn’t thinking of the potential consequences and the gravity of his actions and does have insight now into what could have happened and realises that Garda Fahy was very lucky that she wasn’t injured from the items thrown from the van.”

Ms Carey said that Donovan “has a very serious drug and alcohol problem”.

Donovan also pleaded guilty to an unprovoked assault on a Dublin man in Lahinch in Jun 2011 in which the victim sustained a broken jaw.

Judge Moran imposed a four-year jail term on Donovan, made up of a two-year term for reckless endangerment and a suspended two-year jail term for the assault at the expiry of the first two-year term.

Judge Moran adjourned the sentencing in the case of Mr Molloy.