This article is from page 16 of the 2007-07-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
A MAN threatened to rape relatives of a garda, then exposed himself and urinated all over the floor in the pub- lic area of a Garda station.
Joseph Gannon (46), a native of Dublin and with an address in Sta- tion Court, Ennis, was jailed for four months, when he appeared on charges of assaulting two gardai and public order offences.
Garda Cathal O’Sullivan told Ennis District Court on Friday that the ac- cused arrived at Ennis Garda Station at lam on January 22 last.
‘He was intoxicated and was shout- ing in the public office. He said he
wished to make a statement,” said the garda.
The garda told the accused he was too intoxicated. Gannon then started banging on the hatch and was direct- ed to leave the area. “He said, “I’ll get every female in your family and I’ll rape them’. He exposed his penis and began to urinate all over the floor. He stripped naked and grabbed his geni- tals and said, “Do you like this’,” said the garda.
‘He threatened to kill me and Garda Ryan,’ added Gda O’Sullivan.
Some hours later, two gardai went to Gannon’s cell, to release him. He was lying naked on the floor and made a lunge at the gardai.
The court was told that Gannon had a number of previous convictions in Dublin, including two of a sexual na- UN Ken
He was jailed for 12 years for a rape offence, at Dublin Circuit Court, in 1988, while he received a three year sentence at the same court for anoth- er rape offence, also in 1988.
However, defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client, who was born in North Inner City Dublin, would maintain he has only one con- viction for an offence of a sexual na- ture. She said the “‘alleged rape mat- ter – for which he spent nine years in jail – absorbed much of his life” and was the subject of the Court of Crim-
inal Appeal and the Supreme Court.
‘He believes the rape conviction was a miscarriage of justice. My client has never once stopped main- taining his innocence. He spent nine years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit… The file is still open, she said.
Referring to the charges before the court, she said, “He can’t believe he had it in him to say what is alleged. He doesn’t believe he said them.”
‘He sees his visit to the Garda sta- tion as acry for help.
‘He had come to the end of his tether.
‘He was in crisis, in a very serious way, She said.