Man seen discarding long knife

Gardaí on duty near a bridge by the South Ring Rd in Cork saw a man take a long knife from the side of his pants as if he was drawing a sword and throw it over the side of the bridge.

Ian Cunningham, of 28 Clashduv Rd, Cork, denied the charge of being in possession of the knife at the time, but was convicted of the offence yesterday at Cork District Court.

Sergeant Brendan Barry Murphy was the front seat passenger in a patrol car driven by Garda Kay Griffin after 5.30am on November 10, 2013.

The sergeant saw Cunningham taking the knife from his clothing in the manner of someone pulling a knife from a scabbard and throwing it over the railing of the bridge. The gardaí later found the knife in the car park of Life FM and Rock Bingo.

Sgt Barry Murphy said the knife was dry even though it had been raining up to half an hour before that. Garda Griffin corroborated this evidence.

Cunningham told his solicitor, Eddie Burke, he had no knife and had discarded nothing and the gardaí were mistaken.

Mr Burke said in cross-examination of Sgt Barry Murphy: “You could not have seen what you describe because he had his back to you. It is physically impossible to see through him.”

The sergeant replied that when Cunningham and the other man with him heard the Garda patrol car they turned around sideways and Cunningham was partly turned in this way when he threw the knife away.

Judge Kelleher gave Cunningham an eight-month suspended jail sentence on condition that he keeps the peace for the next two years.