Knife flung in car hits garda
Inspector Bill Duane said gardaí responded to a call in relation to up to a dozen youths drinking and causing a disturbance. Garda Louise Kingston drove to the area and Garda Mark Barrett was the front-seat passenger.
“Garda Barrett opened the passenger window to speak to the youths. As he did so, a red-handled Swiss army knife with a blade open was thrown in the window,” Insp Duane said.
The knife did not pierce the skin of Garda Barrett, but it did bruise his throat.
It was never established who threw the knife. Garda Barrett saw it had come from the direction of two men, one of whom was before Cork District Court yesterday — namely Ryan Pumphrey, aged 22, of 1 Deermount, Deerpark, Friars Walk, Cork.
Pumphrey pleaded guilty to obstructing Garda Barrett and engaging in threatening behaviour. When Garda Barrett got out of the car and approached the two men, Pumphrey said, “Fuck off, you c***”. He had 21 previous convictions.
Defence solicitor, Diane Hallahan, said that despite the fact that he was not prosecuted for being drunk, he was so intoxicated at the time he couldn’t remember much about the night.
She said Pumphrey was in rehabilitation and had not come to Garda attention since that night in April 2013. Judge Leo Malone put the case back for a probation report on his suitability for community service.
