Driver told Cork gardaí knife was for his own protection

A motorist who was stopped after trying to avoid a Garda traffic checkpoint has been convicted of possession of a knife contrary to the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990.

Sergeant Eimear O’Connell told Bandon District Court a traffic checkpoint was in operation at Innishannon, Co Cork, on June 4, 2025. The court heard a Renault Master van approached the checkpoint but then drove off at speed and turned down a side road.

Gardaí followed the vehicle and it was pulled over a short time later. When the vehicle was stopped, the court heard there were three men in the van, including the driver, Jakub Walendzik, aged 40 of Rathowen, Fermoy, Co Cork.

Suspicions were aroused by a smell of cannabis and a search was conducted but no cannabis was found. When he was searched, Walendzik was found to be in possession of knife with a two-inch blade that was in his pocket. When asked why he was carrying the knife, Walendzik said it was for his own protection.

Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said Walendzik was a courier and he used the knife for work purposes. He said his client reacted “impulsively” and compounded the situation by saying the knife was for his own protection and “didn’t know what he was saying”.

Mr Taaffe said Walendzik had picked up two hitchhikers and they had asked him to avoid the checkpoint. He said Walendzik did not know the two individuals.

Judge Joanne Carroll said she took “a poor view” of someone not stopping at a checkpoint and then fleeing, and added the story about the hitchhikers sounded like a "cock and bull story". 

Walendzik was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for 18 months and a destruction order was granted for the knife.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme