Jailed for assaulting two gardaí 

By Natasha Reid 
 
A man has been sentenced to one year in prison for assaulting two gardai, who his parents had called to help get him out of their house. 

David Roe (41) was ‘out of it on tablets’ when he punched a male garda in the face twice and did ‘a hook and pull’ of his cheek, after first pushing a female garda, causing her to bang her head.

The father of three of Ribh Avenue, Artane in Dublin, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the female garda and assault causing harm to her male colleague at that address on February 7, 2021.

The court heard that Roe’s mother rang the gardai at lunchtime that day to say her son had been taking drugs all night, was causing damage and upset in her home, being abusive and aggressive.

When two gardai arrived, Roe’s parents invited them in.

They said he was upstairs, intoxicated, and had refused to leave.

Roe then came down and asked the female garda if she had a warrant.

He appeared agitated and uneasy, became immediately aggressive and said he wouldn’t be leaving the house.

While she was speaking to him, he tried to push past her twice. She put her hand up to stop him. 

He was irate and agitated and pushed her with force using both hands causing her to fall backwards and bang her head off a fuse box.

The other garda intervened, and Roe grabbed him by the legs and pushed him backwards. The garda tripped, and Roe punched him twice in the face, cutting his lip.

He then stuck his fingers into the garda’s mouth and tried to do what the court heard was ‘a hook and pull of his cheek’.

The female garda managed to restrain him, and he was handcuffed.

Roe later told gardai that he did not remember the incident due to the amount of drugs he had taken.

The male garda was treated in hospital for swelling and a cut to the inside of his mouth, along with soft tissue damage to his hip, shoulder and ribs.

As this took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was also distress about contracting the disease from having Roe’s fingers inside his mouth.

The court heard that Roe had 55 previous convictions, mainly for road traffic matters.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, said his client had said that he was ‘out of his head on tablets’ that night and that his mother had caught him at her purse. Violence was uncharacteristic of him.

“He’s living with his parents at the moment and they’re getting on well,” he said, explaining that he had been allocated his own apartment in Coolock and would be moving there shortly.

“In the last four years, he’s completely clean from drugs, is working and providing for his children on a daily basis,” he said.

“He apologises profusely to the guards, who were doing their duty on the night.”

He asked the court not to put him into custody.

Judge Martin Nolan said that putting his finger in the garda’s mouth and pulling his cheek was very distasteful and no doubt very painful.

“To avoid custody in this situation, he would have to have a perfect record,” he said.

He sentenced him to one year imprisonment for the assault causing harm to the male garda, and took the assault of the female garda into consideration.