A man has been refused bail after he was charged with a number of offences including causing criminal damage to a garda car and assaulting a Garda during the course of a domestic incident in North Kerry.
The 27-year-old, who can’t be named for legal reasons, appeared at Cork District Court yesterday.
He was charged with breach of a barring order, obstructing a garda, assault of a garda and criminal damage to a garda car in North Kerry on Sunday night.
Garda James Downey of Ballybunion Garda Station gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution at the in-camera hearing where the public were not admitted, and he said that Gardaí were objecting to bail for the accused.
He said that this was due to the seriousness of the charges, the strength of the evidence against him in that he was caught red-handed by Gardaí who witnessed the events at the centre of the charges and the fear he would commit further offences if granted bail.
He said that Gardaí were called to the scene of a domestic incident at around 8.30pm on Sunday night after the accused turned up at the house of his partner, in breach of a barring order that she had obtained.
Garda Downey said, “The defendant was allegedly aggressive in her home and calling her insulting names."
The Garda said the accused's partner stated that he threw a phone charger at her, which hit her in the arm.
No injuries were reported but she said she was in fear of him.
“Gardaí attended at the scene, and he was allegedly aggressive towards them, obstructing them, headbutting the rear left window of the patrol car, smashing it and then stumbling, landing on a garda causing injury to him — a sprain to his ankle,” Garda James Downey said.
The accused said that he would not commit any further offences if granted bail. “That’s not going to happen – I was under the influence of Xanax,” said the man, adding that he suffered from mental health issues.
The man told his solicitor, Stephen Cotter that he was willing to sign on at his local garda station daily and he would abide by a curfew and any other bail conditions that were imposed by the court.
He said that if he got bail, he would stay away from his partner and apologised.
The accused, added that although his partner had a barring order against him they, were still living together.
Judge Mary Dorgan said the accused was facing very serious charges while she also had a concern he might interfere with witnesses; she refused him bail and remanded him in custody to appear at Kenmare District Court on May 1st.
