Bus passenger swung meat cleaver at driver for not stopping

A 44-year-old man swung a meat cleaver at a bus driver who refused to stop for him, a court heard yesterday.

Robert Fogarty, from Cardy Rock Court, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, has been charged with possessing a meat cleaver as a weapon. It is alleged he had the knife while travelling on a bus at Atrium Road, Dublin Airport, last Monday night.

The unemployed man, who has not yet entered a plea, appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday where Judge Cormac Dunne heard it would be alleged that gardaí responded to a report from Airport Police that a bus driver on the 102 route had been threatened.

A Garda sergeant told the court it would be claimed that Mr Fogarty was highly intoxicated and abusive when he got on the bus. It was alleged he asked the driver to pull up at a “non stop”, and that when the driver did not, Mr Fogarty “produced a meat cleaver from his backpack and swung it at the driver who was behind protective glass”.

The judge adjourned ruling on the jurisdiction issue – whether the case will stay in the District Court or go forward to the Circuit Court.