{"id":95606,"date":"2025-10-21T21:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/95606\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T21:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:58:09","slug":"gardai-hosed-down-during-tense-showdown-amid-angry-scenes-outside-limerick-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/95606\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardai ‘hosed down’ during tense showdown amid angry scenes outside Limerick home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A DETECTIVE garda had a hose turned on him when a large crowd became \u201caggressive\u201d as he attempted to seize a high-powered vehicle from a property in Ballinacurra Weston, a court has heard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Details of the incident were outlined by Det Garda Declan O\u2019Halloran who opposed Joanne Mitchell\u2019s application seeking the return of her 2008-registered Range Rover, which was seized following a high-speed pursuit.<\/p>\n

In the lead up to the incident on April 10, the garda said he \u201clocked eyes\u201d on a man while driving near a statue of the Virgin Mary \u2013 known locally as \u201cthe grotto\u201d at Crecora Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately upon seeing me I could see panic in his face. On seeing the garda\u00ed, the jeep sped up and drove to Hyde Avenue,\u201d the detective told the court.<\/p>\n

He said what followed was a high-speed pursuit that involved dangerous driving.<\/p>\n

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He told Judge Carol Anne Coolican the Range Rover was driven towards the garda vehicle and that it swerved erratically and turned at high speed.<\/p>\n

Having evaded capture, the Range Rover ended up parked in front of a property at Carina Avenue.<\/p>\n

Here, over 40 \u201caggressive\u201d people congregated \u2013 some of whom obstructed garda\u00ed from entering the house to seize the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Detective Garda O\u2019Halloran said he is familiar with the property and \u201cwas aware there would be resistance\u201d. He described how he and his colleagues were met with a \u201chostile situation\u201d which required \u201cmore robust interventions\u201d by garda\u00ed, including significant additional resources.<\/p>\n

There was \u201ca tension present\u201d in the area as garda\u00ed tried to gain access to the vehicle \u2013 which was intermittently locked and unlocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked for keys many times,\u201d said the detective who added that the man who was driving the Range Rover was \u201cin and out of the house\u201d.<\/p>\n

The driver also taunted the garda saying: \u201cYou s*** yourself when we drove at you\u201d. Things took a turn for the worse, when a beer bottle was thrown at the garda, which he dodged.<\/p>\n

At one point in the night, the driver appeared with a hose and started spraying garda\u00ed in an effort to keep them away.<\/p>\n

When he \u201cturned the hose on persons present\u201d members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na intervened and pepper-sprayed him.<\/p>\n

After the tussle, the vehicle was towed and seized under the provisions of Section 109A of the Road Traffic Act.<\/p>\n

Judge Coolican was told the Range Rover has four cars seized in the past.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Tom Kiely said his client Joanne Mitchell \u2013 who was not alleged to have been directly linked to the incident when she arrived at the scene \u2013 needed the vehicle to drive to Mungret\/Willie Park school and help her grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Mr Kiely said the driver is Ms Mitchell\u2019s boyfriend who has no ownership of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Detective O\u2019Halloran said this assertion was \u201cunbelievable\u201d.<\/p>\n

After hearing details of what happened, Judge Coolican received legal submissions regarding the legislation under which garda\u00ed seized the Range Rover.<\/p>\n

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Mr Kiely submitted section 109A of the Road Traffic Act was not created to allow garda\u00ed seize \u201coff-road vehicles\u201d such as quad bikes and e-scooters and that it is not intended to apply to regular on-road vehicles.<\/p>\n

However, Sergeant Denis Waters said the law \u201capplies to all vehicles\u201d stating that Mr Kiely\u2019s argument was \u201cfactually untrue\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said garda\u00ed regularly seize vehicles that they deem are at risk of being used for further dangerous driving.<\/p>\n

Seeking the return of the vehicle, Mr Kiely said Ms Mitchell needs the car to look after her elderly mother and to take her four grandchildren to school. He said she has been using a car \u201cloaned\u201d by a friend since the Range Rover was seized.<\/p>\n

After considering the matter, Judge Carol Anne Coolican refused to return the vehicle.<\/p>\n

The court heard the driver of the vehicle is facing prosecution in the District Court in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A DETECTIVE garda had a hose turned on him when a large crowd became \u201caggressive\u201d as he attempted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,54319,61,60,44,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-95606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-ballinacurra-weston","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-limerick-city","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95606","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=95606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}