Sentence adjourned in six-hour-siege case

A man who threatened to kill a woman, a child and gardaí during what was described as a six-hour siege where a garda crisis negotiator had to intervene has had his sentence adjourned by Judge Patricia Ryan.

Walter McCarthy (aged 39) who is currently living in transitional housing with the help of Focus Ireland, demanded beer, a gun, a psychiatrist and a priest as gardaí talked through a letterbox trying to persuade him to come out of the house in Finglas, Dublin where he was holding the woman and child hostage.

Sergeant John O'Donoghue did not accept a suggestion from defence counsel, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, that the situation was more of "a domestic scene that was blown out of proportion when gardaí arrived".

"No. The victim and her child were held hostage in the kitchen of the house while he was holding two knives," Sgt O'Donoghue said.

He later agreed with Ms Kennedy that garda Forde was the first to arrive on the scene and his statement said that gardaí called at the door of the house which was opened by McCarthy, who was holding a knife and that Garda Jerome Forde, who was the first garda on the scene, got the impression there was a domestic dispute going on.

McCarthy pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to false imprisonment of the woman and assaulting garda Forde while he was in the execution of his duties on May 8, 2005.

Sgt O'Donoghue told prosecuting counsel, Mr Joseph Barnes BL, that when he arrived shortly after 10pm that night, McCarthy was with the woman and a two-year-old boy in the front garden where he was holding a large knife and threatening to kill her, the child and gardaí.

McCarthy left the garden and "retreated" into the house but came back out again and while he was being distracted, the surrounding gardaí were able to draw their batons in an attempt to disarm him.

Sgt O'Donoghue said it was at this stage that he held the knife to the throat of garda Jones and threatened to kill him. Garda Jones later said he felt in fear of his safety but he was able to get away from McCarthy.

Sgt O'Donoghue advised Judge Ryan that this happened at a time when gardaí did not wear 'stab' vests.

Other gardaí then arrived on the scene and McCarthy went back into the house, taking the woman and child with him.

Detective Inspector Michael Jackson, a crisis negotiator, arrived and after "engaging in conversation with him", he was able to get into the house where McCarthy was still holding the woman hostage in the kitchen.

Sgt O'Donoghue said that over the course of the night, gardaí witnessed McCarthy drinking a lot of beer and taking pills. He was becoming increasingly unsteady on his feet and drowsy and shortly after 4am he briefly "nodded off".

The woman then got up and managed to get the knife from McCarthy before gardaí arrested him following what Sgt O'Donoghue described as a "six-and-a-half-hour siege".

He said McCarthy had one previous conviction for criminal damage from 1986 and said he was aware that McCarthy had ongoing psychiatric difficulties. He had not come to garda attention since the incident and was living in a hostel in Swords at the time.

Sgt O'Donoghue agreed with Ms Kennedy that McCarthy had scraped his own stomach with the knife and the woman was afraid he was going to kill himself.

Ms Kennedy said McCarthy wanted to apologise to the gardaí for his behaviour that night. She said he had spent some time in St Brendan's Hospital and psychiatric reports from January 2006 and April and July 2007 were handed into court.

He had since rehabilitated and no longer abused either alcohol or drugs. A psychiatric report indicated that he "was not a danger to society" having dealt with "the root of his offending behaviour".

Ms Kennedy said the death in 2005 of his mother, whom "he was completely devoted to", had a very traumatic effect on him.

McCarthy was involved in a serious accident in 1984 when a jeep knocked him off his motorbike. He was 16 years old at the time and the injuries had left him unable to work and in constant pain.

Ms Kennedy said he was "a vulnerable and isolated person who lived a quiet, albeit lonely, life".

She added that he was very frail and had found the case exceptionally difficult to deal with.