Man who once found his murdered father on Dublin street is jailed for threatening gardaí

Sonya McLean

A man who found his murdered father on a Dublin street 23 years ago has been jailed for 20 months after he trashed his mother’s home and threatened to stab gardaí who responded to the call.

Liam Byrne (41) discovered his father dead as he was walking around Dublin city centre in 2000. His lawyer said it was this grim discovery that led to his escalation into serious drug addiction.

Garda Paul Faughnan told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were called to Byrne’s mother’s house in June last year after she said her son had smashed up her home.

When gardaí arrived, Byrne was standing at the top of the stairs armed with a wooden pole and large knife. He threatened to stab gardaí if they came any closer.

The officers retreated from the house and Byrne threw a TV stand, a mirror and a hoover down the stairs at them. Gda Faughnan said the armed support unit were called and Byrne dropped his weapons and was arrested.

His mother later told gardaí that she had previously secured a barring order against her son but had allowed him back into her home after he promised her he was clean and that he was intending “to do some courses to get back to work”.

Byrne, of Mariners Court, North Wall, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill a garda and production of a knife on June 22nd, 2022.

He has been in custody since his arrest and his mother did not prepare a victim impact statement for the hearing.

Judge Martin Nolan said Byrne had behaved in a very threatening and aggressive way to the gardaí while armed but gardaí reacted in a very sensible way, and he was arrested.

“He cannot threaten gardaí in this way because it can lead to very serious consequences,” Judge Nolan said.

He told Byrne that if the gardaí had not left his home as they did, he could have assaulted one of them, and he would be before the court on a much more serious charge.

He accepted, however, that while Byrne had threatened violence he had not used actual violence on the gardaí.

Gda Maughan agreed with Gerard Charlton BL defending, that his client had essentially been barricading himself into the upstairs of his mother’s home and the threats to gardaí were issued in that context.

Mr Charlton said Byrne found his murdered father's body in 2000 and this incident led him into serious drug abuse.

He said about 12 months before this incident he had fully rehabilitated and was off methadone.

He had been working in the construction industry and had assisted in a vaccination centre during the pandemic.

Counsel said Byrne had relapsed before this incident and was highly intoxicated on the day. He is anxious now to be assessed for residential treatment.