Tore up mattress in garda station

A 25-YEAR-OLD Armagh man who tore up a mattress at Monaghan Garda Station after being arrested following a public order incident was given prison sentences totalling six months when the matter came before Monaghan District Court recently.

Paul Gerard McGonnell with an address at Rawes Road, Derrynoose, Co Armagh, is already serving a prison sentence for assault. He pleaded guilty to damaging the cell mattress, as well as to being drunk, refusing to comply with Garda directions, and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour, all at Dawson Street, Monaghan on July 28, 2023.

Sergeant Lisa McEntee said gardaí received a report on that date about two intoxicated males who were shouting and roaring at members of the public on Dawson Street. When Garda Gary Cawley arrived he saw that McGonnell was topless and shouting that he was “in the Free State”.

He was told to leave the area, but began shoutnig at members of the public. He was intimidating them as they passed by and stating that he was “in the IRA” and “could do whatever [he] wanted”.

McGonnell was arrested, but while at Monaghan Garda Station he was observed tearing the plastic cover on the mattress in his cell, which was damaged beyond repair.

“Sounds like a man living very much in the past — with delusions,” Judge Raymond Finnegan remarked. Barrister Sara Brennan said her client had a very difficult upbringing. She confirmed that at the Monaghan Circuit Court sittings in May he had received prison sentences relating to two separate assaults committed on the same night, and that he was not due for release until December of this year.

Ms Brennan went into detail about McGonnell’s family background, which had involved the break-up of his parents’ marriage and his mother’s sudden death two years ago. He had lived for a time with a paternal aunt in Dublin but subsequently became homeless.

The barrister said she had never seen a man use his time in custody as well as her client had. He had engaged in education along with psychological assessment and counselling, and he had shown himself to be drugs free. Mr McGonnell was putting his “best foot forward”, and did everything he could in that regard, as a result of which the Circuit Court judge had been less harsh in sentencing than might otherwise have been the case, counsel added.

For the damage to the Garda station mattress, Judge Finnegan imposed a three-month prison sentence, adding a further consecutive three months for refusing to comply. The intoxication and abusive behaviour counts were taken into consideration on that basis.