A 37-year-old man who was shot when he failed to drop a sawn-off shotgun when challenged by armed gardaí in a Cork pub has been jailed for five years for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Anthony O'Leary from Liam Healy Road, Fairhill in Cork pleaded guilty to two firearms offences relating to an incident where he went with a sawn-off Baikal double-barrel shotgun to the Mo Chuisle pub in Blarney Street on May 21st.
Det Sgt Denis Cahill told Cork Circuit Criminal Court O'Leary had been drinking in various pubs before entering the Mo Chuisle and ordering the women and children present to leave.
He asked for the owner Niall Burns. When he was told Mr Burns had left 15 minutes earlier, he began brandishing the gun in a threatening manner. The barman and a number of customers fled the scene.
Gardaí later took statements from a number of the customers who told how they feared that they were going to be killed, said Det Sgt Cahill, adding that gardaí had received a tip off that O'Leary had got a gun.
A unit of the armed Regional Support Unit arrived at the pub two minutes after O'Leary and the officers could see him with the gun through the window. They entered the pub to find that O'Leary had his back to them and the gun by his side.
When they ordered O'Leary to drop the weapon, he swung around and brought the gun up in preparation for firing it. One of the gardai fired a single shot which hit O'Leary in the arm before passing through his abdomen. Officers were then able to disarm him.
The matter was later investigated by the Garda Ombudsman Office, which interviewed gardai and customers and examined CCTV footage which showed the gardaí were justified in their actions, Det Sgt Cahill said.
He explained that O'Leary, who made a good recovery from his wound, had a grievance against the owners of the Mo Chuisle. His uncle, Anthony 'Farmer' Hennessy (40) had died following his ejection from the pub on March 13th 2008.
Niall Burns and his two brothers, Terry and Tony later went on trial for endangerment in relation to Mr Hennessy's death but Terry and Tony Burns were acquitted by direction and Niall Burns was acquitted by the jury.
O'Leary, who had been released from prison on temporary release just two weeks before the incident with the gun, had been arrested and questioned by gardaí. He refused to say where he had got the shotgun, which had been stolen in Thurles, Co Tipperary in 2008.
O'Leary wrote a letter of apology to the court, expressing remorse for his action and relief that nobody else had been injured. He also admitted that he realised how fortunate he himself was to be alive and said he now accepted his uncle's death was a tragic accident.
Judge Con Murphy said he accepted that O'Leary's remorse was genuine but he said it was fortunate that Niall Burns was not in the pub at the time, that no one else was injured and that O'Leary himself survived being shot.
