Tourists saw accused ‘put fist through Monet painting’

A tourist who witnessed a €10m Claude Monet painting being damaged said he saw the accused man “lift his fist and put it through the painting”.

Andrew Shannon, aged 48, of Willans Way, Ongar, Dublin 15, denies causing criminal damage to the painting at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, on Jun 29, 2012.

The gilt-framed oil painting, Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat, dates from about 1874 and is Ireland’s only work in public collection by the celebrated French impressionist.