A man, who swung an electric bicycle at a Garda, causing him to require a stitch to his face, will serve no further jail time on the sentence he is currently serving for another instance of assault.
Corey Plunkett (32) of Library Road, Dún Laoghaire appeared before the Central Criminal Court in relation to an incident which took place during the covid lockdowns between the early hours of the 22nd and 23rd of May 2021.
The court heard that at the time the accused had been part of a group of who had been drinking at Dún Laoghaire west pier during a period at 10:30pm when such gatherings were prohibited. The court heard how the group moved on, but were later located in Eden Park.
The court heard that Gardaí instructed the group to move on, that some of the members compiled, but that others sat “in a circle” and formed “a conspiracy” to disobey the instruction.
Plunkett, who the court heard has long standing issues with drug and alcohol abuse, was “swerving” on his bike “between” the officers before one of the Gardaí reached out to “catch him”.
The accused then “swung” the bike at the officer, hitting the right side of his body and causing him to sustain a cut over his eye which emitted “a steady flow of blood”. The officer also sustained facial bruising and had to receive local anaesthesia and a stitch in respect of the wound over his eye.
When Plunkett was arrested, he “behaved badly” in custody, kicking a Garda for which he received an eight month custody sentence from the District Court.
Hearing that the accused is currently serving a four year sentence for assault causing harm and production of an article in respect of having assaulted a member of the public on the street, Judge Martin Nolan commented, “He’ very fond of attacking people, isn’t he?”
Plunkett’s defending counsel argued that her client is a “very different man than he was four years ago,” saying that, at the time, he had been abusing alcohol, cocaine, crack, and cannabis.
At the time he wasn’t “feeling well” with his “emotional problems”, she said. The accused brought €2,000 to court as a token of remorse for his actions.
Judge Nolan said that that the accused “had an anger management problem” when he assaulted the “unfortunate guard” who was “doing his duty”.
He said that Plunkett “undoubtedly has a history of violent behaviour”, and noted that he currently has a release date in August 2027.
The court considered whether to extend this before passing a 20 month sentence which is to run concurrent to the sentence he is currently serving.
“If he hasn’t changed, he’ll be back here.” said Judge Nolan before the accused was led away.