Man claims air pistol was for shooting cans in garden

A young man caught with a stun gun and an air pistol during a search of his home claimed he had the pistol for shooting cans in his garden and the stun gun as an ornament.

“Some ornament,” Judge Aingil Ní Chondúin remarked on hearing this evidence at Cork District Court yesterday.

The home of Roy Carroll at 13 Farranferrris Park, Farranree, Cork, was searched by Garda Jeremy Murphy.

Insp Gary McPolin said in court that in the course of the search, the suspected firearms were found in the drawer of a cabinet in Carroll’s bedroom.

They included a .177in calibre air pistol, airgun pellets, and a stun gun.

Eddie Burke said that while the accused was prosecuted for having these items the reality was that many people in Cork possessed similar items.

He said one only had to walk out of the courthouse and go around the corner to a shop on North Main Street for instance where one could buy such items without any problem or any requirement to have a licence.

Carroll told gardaí that he got the stun gun as an ornament and the air pistol for shooting cans in his back garden. Judge Ní Chondúin wondered if he might be shooting at unfortunate cats and birds as well.

Insp McPolin said the accused had a previous conviction for producing a weapon to intimidate another person and also assault causing harm. For those offences he was recently given a total sentence of 12 months suspended.

The judge put Carroll on a €3,000 peace bond to be of good behaviour and not to reoffend for the next two years.