{"id":513223,"date":"2026-06-22T21:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/513223\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:03:12","slug":"they-attacked-me-first-man-charged-with-assault-of-letterkenny-gardai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/513223\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They attacked me first’: Man charged with assault of Letterkenny Gardai"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man charged with assaulting two Gardai at the Public Services Centre in Letterkenny has claimed: \u201cThey attacked me first\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adbou Abouzid was charged with three further offences in relation to the incident on April 23, 2026 and appeared before Letterkenny District Court.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Abouzid was charged with assaulting Garda Lee Scanlon and causing him harm and with assaulting Garda Daniel Murphy and causing him harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The charges are contrary to section 3 (1) and 3 (2) of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 as amended by section 20 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023.<\/p>\n

He is also charged with breaking a Sepura radio earpiece belonging to An Garda Siochana. The charge is contrary to section 2 (1) of the Criminal Damage Act, 1991.<\/p>\n

Garda Pauline Doherty gave evidence of meeting Adouzid by arrangement for the purpose of charge.<\/p>\n

When charged with the criminal damage matter, Adouzid made no reply. When charged with the assault of Garda Scanlon and causing him harm, the accused replied: \u201cThat happened in accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the charge of assaulting Garda Murphy and causing him harm was put to Abouzid, he responded: \u201cThat\u2019s been an accident too. They attacked me first.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Garda Jim Collins told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed summary disposal in the District Court.<\/p>\n

After reviewing evidence of the injuries sustained, Judge Emile Daly accepted jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

The case was adjourned until September 7 when it will link up in a co-accused in the matter.<\/p>\n

Abouzid, now with an address at Newberry Place, Edenderry, Co Offaly, was previously brought before a special sitting of Letterkenny District Court<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

The injured Gardai were treated at Letterkenny University Hospital following the incident, which happened at around 3pm on April 23, 2026 at the Donegal County Council Public Services Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two people, Abouzid, and a woman – who was later granted station bail – were arrested at the scene and detained at Letterkenny Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.<\/p>\n

He was previously charged with assaulting Garda Lee Scanlon and with assaulting Garda Daniel Murphy, charges contrary to section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.<\/p>\n

He is also charged with failing to comply with the direction given by a member of An Garda Siochana, contrary to section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994 as amended by Section 22 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 2008.<\/p>\n

He is also charged that did use or engage in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to produce a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace might have been occasioned. This charge is contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act , 1994, as amended by Section 22 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 2008.<\/p>\n

The accused man\u2019s passport had already been seized by Gardai and Abouzid was already ordered to sign on three times a week at Tullamore Garda Station.<\/p>\n

A woman, aged in her 30s, was also arrested in connection with the same incident and will be before Letterkenny District Court on September 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man charged with assaulting two Gardai at the Public Services Centre in Letterkenny has claimed: \u201cThey attacked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-513223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}