Just watching that Liam Farrell case there on Crime Call. Something about an old lad in rural Ireland being bait like that coming home after a few pints. Photos of him there with his dog. Iâm very affected sitting here. The son speaks well I always think too.
9 Likes
Iâd say thereâs two lads at home after getting an awful land after the Killarney assault case too. They were captured perfectly on CCTV and probably no idea they were being searched for to that extent.
1 Like
perfect capture of them indeed
A strange case; the original Garda investigation seems to have been botched badly in that they believed that he fell after having a heart attack, despite the fact that there was extensive bruising and markings which would be more in line with an assault. There were blood stains around the place and on his neck tie too; some of his clothes had also been removed despite the fact that he never made it into the house. I didnât see Crime Call last night but Iâm sure the Gardai put their hands up and acknowledged their error
The pathologist conducted their autopsy having not being told that the body was found in suspicious circumstances and determined a casue of death as heart attack. Very suspicious behaviour on the original investigation really
1 Like
This is key.
Whatever happened there I donât know.
I also believe that the culprit is known too.
1 Like
A garda who was chasing illegal scrambler bikes to try to âget them off the streetsâ has himself been handed a road ban for dangerous driving.
Sean Shields said he was doing his best to try to tackle the âscourgeâ of reckless scramblers in Dublin and denied that his manner of driving during a pursuit was dangerous.
However, he was convicted after a non-jury trial at Dublin District Court, banned from driving for two years and fined âŹ500.
Shields, who pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving, was prosecuted after a complaint to the Garda SiochĂĄna Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), now FiosrĂș.
Judge John Hughes was told Shields was in a patrol car at North Circular Road on May 4, 2024 when he followed two masked scrambler riders into Belvedere Avenue, a cul-de-sac.
Local resident Linda Carroll said that afternoon, the garda car came down the road âreally fastâ and up onto the footpath outside her house. It hit a traffic cone which went under the car.
There was âa ladâ on an electric bike and it ânearly clipped himâ but he sped off around the corner, she said. Her partner, Kieran Davitt told the court the garda car âcame down the road and just seemed to go out of control.â He handed CCTV footage from the house over to investigators and this was played in court.
Nobody was able to identify the scrambler riders for investigators, and they were never caught.
Shields told the court he went to the area as there had been a report of scramblers weaving in and out of traffic. He was waiting at the lights when the two bikes âcame out of nowhereâ, one of them pulling a wheelie.
The riders gave gardai the middle finger before speeding off. Shields turned the garda car and followed, seeing the bikes weave in and out of heavy mid-morning traffic and past pedestrians including children going to schools and creches on âone of the main thoroughfares in the city.â
The riders had no helmets, were âmasked upâ and their bikes had no registration plates.
They were âquick and nimbleâ and he did his best to get close enough to catch them when they drove into the cul-de-sac, but they got away.
âI came in knowing that I wasnât going to hit them,â he said. âI was in full control, I knew what speed I was doing.â
He said dealing with electric bikes and scramblers was a âconstant battleâ for gardai.
âThese bikes are everywhere, theyâre capable of massive speeds,â he said. âTheyâre used in multiple offences; drugs, firearms, burglaries and thefts on a daily basis. The use of these bikes is having a massive impact on everyday life in Dublin city, whether itâs crime or fatalities.â
âGardai are sick of picking dead bodies up off the ground, Judge,â he said.
A lawyer for the DPP put it to him: âitâs you whoâs on trial here.â
âI was doing my job, doing my best, trying to get them off the road,â he said. Shields accepted the CCTV footage âdoesnât look as great as I would like it to look, but these things happen.â
He denied intentionally driving the car over the traffic cone, saying he did not recall seeing it as he was concentrating on the scramblers. However, he accepted his car would have hit the bike on the path if it had not moved out of the way.
The prosecutor said this was âtantamount to an admission.â
The patrol car passenger, Garda Daniel Molloy, said the scramblers were driving in a âvery dangerous and erratic manner.â
He said legislation came in in 2023 giving gardai extra powers to seize these bikes and there were four to five calls about them during every shift. There had since been a number of tragedies including the death of Grace Lynch (18) in Finglas.
The defence barrister asked the judge to take account of the âcontextâ of the case, including the injuries and deaths caused by scramblers. There had been âmounting pressureâ to get scramblers off the roads, from the public and garda management.
The gardaâs driving in the CCTV was ânot perfectâ but there was no evidence of speed and no harm was caused, the barrister said.
Judge Hughes said the car had ended up with its bonnet protruding onto the footpath and a wheel mounting the kerb. He said there were policing situations where extreme driving skills were required and the law provided certain exemptions for gardai on duty. On this occasion, he said, considering all the evidence, the prosecution had proved its case.
The court heard Shields had been a gardai for six years and had no prior convictions.
Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.
a 2 year driving ban for chasing scrotes yet another example of our out of touch judiciary
And the guard ends up convicted. Absolutely fucked up.
6 Likes
I try to be as open minded as possible but if anyone comes along and says that it was right that a guard was convicted in that case then they can fuck right off.
Similar to the scrotes on the M7 that time.
10 Likes
The high powered bikes and scramblers should all be banned and rounded up,
The Gardai are in an impossible position, because chasing is much more dangerous to the public
3 Likes
The quality of April Fools have decreased in line with the growth of AI usage for April Fools
We donât know how lucky we are to have you providing the service 24/7 365.
3 Likes
Us.
People in the comments saying âthatâs an April Foolsâ.
Thanks very much Declan, such a massive relief to find out that Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club isnât changing its name to Clontarf Shamrock.
2 Likes
Clontarf-Raheny Shamrock would be a good compromise name. Or CRASH as an acronym.
And now it transpires the main witness against the Garda was himself previously before the court for possession of a stolen motorbike.
The one about Strava acquiring Garmin duped a good few. As did the Balls.ie one about the Man Utd v Leeds friendly in Croke Park. Sad that theyâre the high points though
Spoken like a man who doesnât own a pony 
1 Like
Iâm gonna give a pass to this one.
Looks like this one is actually true 