Suspended sentence for teen who caused Garda station to be evacuated

By Sonya McLean

A teenager who threw an airsoft grenade in an underground car park for “fun”, leading to a garda station being temporarily evacuated, has been given a suspended nine-month sentence.

Patrick O’Brien (18) caused “a huge amount of inconvenience to gardaí” when he threw two airsoft air grenades in the underground car park of the IBIS hotel in Clondalkin, Dublin, last February, Judge Martin Nolan said on Friday.

“He decided to have a bit of fun for himself,” the judge said. The judge noted O’Brien’s young age at the time and said he was prepared to accept it was an “act of stupidity”.

He handed down a nine-month sentence, suspending it on a number of conditions.

The court heard the airsoft grenades caused a bang and a flash, and that one was thrown in the direction of a man who came to investigate.

Garda Shane O’Brien told Patrick McCullough BL, prosecuting, that this man then picked up the grenade, wrapped it in a tissue and brought it to Clondalkin Garda Station to report the incident.

When the man turned up at the station, he told gardaí that “a bomb had been thrown at him” and showed them the grenade.

He was instructed to place it in the middle of the floor, and the garda station was evacuated, and all surrounding roads were closed off. The bomb disposal unit was called in to investigate, and they later concluded the grenade was safe.

It was described as a CO2 grenade, which is equipped with a gas or spring mechanism that stimulates an explosion when activated.

Gda O’Brien confirmed that it is used in airsoft games – described in court as something similar to paintball.

O’Brien, of Tir na nOg, Peamount Road, Newcastle, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the grenade at the hotel on February 16, 2025. He has no previous convictions.

Gda O’Brien confirmed that the evacuation of Clondalkin Garda Station meant that all the people who were in cells at that time had to be moved to nearby Ballyfermot Garda Station.

When asked by Judge Martin Nolan why O’Brien had thrown the grenade at the man, the garda replied that he seemed to have done it for a bit of fun.

“So he saw him and decided to annoy him and threw it at him,” Judge Nolan asked.

Gda O’Brien confirmed that he believed this was the case and said he didn’t believe that there had been anything more behind it.

He said O’Brien had parked there, thrown the first grenade, gone to the cinema and then returned to the car park.

When he returned to the car park, he was approached by the man who was looking into what had happened with the first grenade, and that was when he threw it at him.

At a hearing earlier in the week, Judge Nolan asked Mark McMahon, BL defending, whether he should imprison his client “for stupidity” before he revoked his bail and remanded him in custody for sentence on Friday.

Gda O’Brien confirmed that O’Brien was identified after gardai established the registration of the car he was driving that night, having viewed CCTV footage from the car park. The car was registered in O’Brien’s father’s name, and O’Brien later came to the station himself for questioning.

He made full admissions and identified himself on the footage. It was confirmed that he had bought the grenades legitimately and had been using them to scare foxes. He said he brought them with him that night, intending to scare his friends.

Gda O’Brien agreed with a suggestion from Mr McMahon that O’Brien has since fully accepted that it was a stupid thing to do and had acknowledged that it would have been frightening for the man he threw it at.

He accepted that O’Brien had other airsoft items in his home when gardaí came to search it.