Man who drove at garda in a moment of madness avoids a jail term

By Eimear Dodd

A Wicklow man drove his vehicle at a garda in a “moment of madness” after the officer had indicated for him to stop, a court has heard.

David Moorehouse (44) of Walcott, Old Connaugh Avenue, Bray, Co. Wicklow, pleaded guilty to a count of dangerous driving on July 30, 2020.

Moorehouse has 10 previous convictions for minor road traffic offences.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday that a number of gardai were on mobile patrol when they were asked to assist colleagues carrying out animal welfare checks.

An investigating garda told Michael Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that he was standing on the footpath  at Old Connaught Avenue in Bray with colleagues who had conducted the animal welfare check and seized a number of dogs.

The patrol car was parked on the roadside with the blue lights turned on.

A red Toyota Hiace was observed on the section of the road on the bridge over the M11 motorway.

The garda stepped onto the road and raised his hand to signal for the vehicle to stop and pull in behind the garda car.

The Toyota Hiace did not slow down and appeared to increase speed as it approached the position of the garda.

The court heard that the driver, Moorehouse, was looking at the garda, then swerved suddenly onto the opposite side of the road.

The garda jumped out of the way as he was concerned the vehicle could hit him.

It returned to the other side of the road, then stopped near the garda car.

Gardai spoke to Moorehouse, who provided his driving licence.

He was arrested.

Defence counsel Sarah Jane O’Callaghan BL said her client is sorry for what he did and is aware that he caused “great upset”.

She said her client knows that the garda was “doing his job and should not have to tolerate behaviour” of this kind.

The garda agreed that Moorehouse had apologised in person to him before the hearing started.

Ms O’Callaghan suggested to the garda that her client was not sure what came over him and the garda said he didn’t know what motivated Moorehouse’s actions.

She said the animal welfare check was not connected to Moorehouse, who has a good work history and is a settled member of the Travelling community.

A number of references were handed to the  court on his behalf.

Judge Martin Nolan said that Moorehouse “decided to drive his car” at gardai “for reasons only known” to himself.

He said the court was prepared to accept that Moorehouse was “acting the blaggard” as a possible explanation for his behaviour.

He imposed a four-month suspended prison sentence, after noting the mitigating features and directed Moorehouse to offer €3,000 as a token of remorse to the garda within the next three months.

If the garda does not wish to accept the money, the judge directed that it be given to a charity of the garda’s choosing.

Judge Nolan said the court was ordering Moorehouse to offer a token of remorse as it wanted to “punish” him for his “moment of madness”.

He also disqualified him from driving for four years.