Man who dragged garda at side of Porsche jailed

A detective was left hanging on for his life at side of a valuable stolen Porsche jeep as a career criminal tried to drive away at speed. Today the culprit was jailed for four years.

The €180,000 jeep, one of only two such vehicles in Ireland, was stolen in Kinsale and then parked at the long term car park at Cork Airport. Detective Sergeant Maurice Downey said gardaí set up surveillance on the parked vehicle until two men approached it and got in.

Detective Garda Tim Moynihan approached the driver and opened the driver's door.

Michael Foley (aged 28) drove off rapidly in reverse crashing into a parked car. "Detective Garda Moynihan was dragged for 20 feet before being thrown to the ground. Then he drove out of the car park at high speed," Det Gda Downey said yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The jeep narrowly missed a head-on collision with another vehicle and it was eventually driven through a security barrier.

The vehicle was stolen on Saturday night/ Sunday morning from outside a house in Kinsale and parked at Cork Airport, where it was picked up at 9.40 pm that Sunday night, October 12, 2003.

Michael Foley, from Fairhill, Cork, with an address at 57 Belgard Downes, Rochestown, Cork, pleaded guilty to charges of reckless endangerment, where someone could have been killed or seriously injured, and driving a stolen vehicle.

He came to court yesterday with 63 previous convictions to his name for burglaries and other crimes all over the country, including Ennis, Castlebar, Galway, Killarney, Bantry and Cork city.

"He is a career criminal involved in crime all his life travelling all over the country committing burglaries and stealing cars," Judge Patrick J Moran said.

"This was the unlawful taking of a very valuable jeep with only two of them in the country. The defendant had it parked at a facility in the airport for using it for some other pupose I suspect.

"Det Gda Moynihan suffered a very frightening experience where the jeep was reversed at high speed and dragged along. He was not hospitalised but he is still undergoing medical treatement.

"The defendant is fortunate he is not facing a more serious charge, and that Det Moynihan's injuries

were not of a more serious nature."

The judge was told that Foley was in custody since last October. The four-year sentence was not backdated. It took effect from today.

Det Sgt Downey said previously: "In the whole circumstance it is amazing that a member of the public or a member of an Garda Síochána was not seriously injured or even killed as a result of what happened." The co-accused was dealt with previously in Cork District Court.