Seven gardaí subdue suspect

A man with “superhuman” strength jumped through a reinforced window and later had to be restrained by seven gardaí who failed to subdue him with pepper spray and batons, a court has been told.

Theo Boake is accused of breaking into Pramerica, a technology company, and attacking its €300,000 server system with a fire extinguisher.

The student, 24, claims he did not know what he was doing and claims he is not guilty by reason of insanity.

He appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court in Co Donegal charged with a number of offences of causing criminal damage and assault.

The jury were shown CCTV footage of Mr Boake jumping through a reinforced wire glass pane before going on to attack servers with a fire extinguisher.

Mr Boake was also seen on CCTV attacking cars and signs at the company on November 3, 2012.

The following day, gardaí were called when Mr Boake, who is from Ghana but has lived in Ireland with his family for seven years, went berserk in a phone shop in Letterkenny when his debit card would not work.

He then smashed the card machine by punching it and the manager of the store called gardaí. When they arrived, Mr Boake, of 76 Ballymaccol Woods, Letterkenny, reacted violently and had to be forcefully arrested.

He was taken to Letterkenny Garda Station but tried to flee.

It took at least seven gardaí to restrain him.

Garda Damian Mulkearns said he had never witnessed anything like the strength of Mr Boake. “It was almost as if he was superhuman,” he said. “I have never seen anything as strong. The incapacitating spray did not have any affect on him.”

The court was told that, when interviewed later, Mr Boake said he did not recall the incidents .

The case continues today.