Man who set fire to Garda cell jailed

Gardaí went to check on a prisoner in a Garda station cell and they found that he had set fire to it and that he was lying on the mattress and that he was smiling and was naked but for a T-shirt around his waist.

Sergeant John Kelleher said the accused carved the word ‘Tony’ into the wall with a ring.

Gardaí were unable to remove the ring from his finger because of his violent resistance.

48-year-old Anthony West had to be removed from the cell, which was filling with smoke from a ventilation grill.

But further damage was caused in a second cell.

Sgt Kelleher said that Anthony West urinated on the cell door of the second cell and that this seeped into the corridor outside.

“He also defecated on the floor and used his foot to spread his excrement on the walls and door of the cell,” Sgt Kelleher said.

Sgt Kelleher told Judge Philip O’Leary that Anthony West rolled up charge sheets that had been served on him that night and that he stuffed them into a ventilation grill, causing an overheating in the shaft. Smoke from this set off the fire alarm.

The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to causing this criminal damage on March 22, 2023 at Gurranabraher Garda Station.

The defendant had been arrested earlier that night, when gardaí investigated reports of a man with an iron bar at Popham’s Road, Cork City.

Members of the armed support unit assisted in dealing with the accused at the scene.

Anthony West, of Popham’s Road, was arrested.

The background to the incident was that there were several calls that he was being intimidating.

“He failed to stop when gardaí approached. He threw an iron bar over a metal fence. He was placed in handcuffs.

“Gardaí were unable to retrieve the iron bar as he threw it over a 10-foot railing into dense undergrowth.

“A woman stated that the defendant waved a metal bar and threatened her and her partner,” Sgt Kelleher said.

In the course of the incidents that night and the aggressive behaviour of Mr West towards the gardaí, Garda Niall McCarthy was the victim of assault causing harm.

Judge Philip O’Leary imposed a number of sentences, which amounted to a total jail term of 10 months.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said that the accused was on medication as a result of a head injury sustained some years ago and should not have been drinking alcohol, which only made matters worse.