Not guilty plea in Monet damage trial

A man has gone on trial accused of damaging a €10m Monet painting in the National Gallery and damaging two paintings in the Shelbourne Hotel.

Andrew Shannon, aged 50, of Willians Way, Ongar, Dublin 15, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to damaging Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sail Boat (1874) at the National Gallery on Clare St on June 26, 2012. He further pleaded not guilty to damaging two Felim Egan paintings at the Shelbourne Hotel on January 8, 2014.

Kerida Naidoo BL, prosecuting, told the jury: “It was an act of almost mindless vandalism.”