A violent offender who became aggressive during his arrest and required six gardai to subdue him has appealed against the severity of his five-month jail sentence.
The District Court Appeals Court heard that gardai were forced to strike Aaron McCarthy (33) after he refused to leave a house in Dublin.
McCarthy, with an address at Crinion Strand, Dublin 1, was convicted in the District Court of obstruction of a peace officer contrary to section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994. He was convicted and sentenced to five months imprisonment.
He later lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence.
Garda Brian Kelly told the appeal court that on October 6, 2024, he spoke to a resident in Dublin 7 in relation to an alleged incident of criminal damage.
He said he made enquiries and that later McCarthy replied to gardai with an aggressive tone. Garda Kelly said that McCarthy was informed he was being arrested and that he replied: “No”.
Gda Kelly said that McCarthy refused to come out of the dwelling and that he was required to strike him to get him to exit the house. He said that McCarthy was aggressive and that it required six colleagues to bring him out and effect an arrest.
He said that McCarthy has 96 previous convictions, including those criminal damage and assault offences.
Defence counsel for the man, Seosaimhín Ní Chathasaigh BL, said that her client fully accepts responsibility for his actions and is genuinely remorseful.
She said that her client had an acquired brain injury from a car accident and that he had difficulty controlling his emotions.
Ms Ní Chathasaigh said that McCarthy was now free of illicit substances and was willing to attend probation or a course in anger management.
Judge Ronan Munro said that he would need something else before he considered suspending the sentence. He told McCarthy that if he was drinking and missing appointments, there would be no point.
Judge Munro decided to adjourn the case until October in order for a probation report to be prepared.