An angry farmer wielding a four-pronged pitchfork objected so strenuously to the seizure of his dogs by the ISPCA that the Garda Armed Response Unit (ARU) had to be called in to disarm him.
The stand-off at Ardhoom, Meelick, Swinford, on February 24 last ended with 68-year-old Thomas Golden being tasered, then arrested and conveyed to Castlebar Garda Station.
Mr Golden appeared before Judge Eoin Garavan at a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last Friday on a number of assault charges.
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Garda Sergeant Maureen Flynn testified that the ISPCA requested Garda assistance concerning animals on Mr Golden’s property.
On a previous occasion when they visited the property the ISPCA personnel were met with a hostile reception.
On arrival, Sergeant Flynn told prosecuting counsel, Patrick Reynolds, the ISPCA officers attempted to negotiate with Mr Golden so as to get in to assess the animals.
But the defendant would only communicate through a window. He refused to allow access stating there was ‘nothing wrong’ with his dogs.
Then he closed the window and refused to communicate further.
ISPCA personnel gained entry to the garage and found six dogs inside in a deplorable condition. Drinking water available to the dogs was dirty. One of the dogs escaped.
Firstly, Sergeant Flynn explained, Mr Golden produced a metal mop handle and then a pitchfork.
He threatened one of the gardai present, Noel Folan, that he would put the pitchfork through him. Gardai pleaded with the defendant to drop the pitchfork but he refused. After being sprayed with incapacitant liquid the defendant walked into his house.
The Armed Support Unit was called and when the defendant refused to come out of the house he was tasered and then arrested.
Defence counsel Brendan McDonagh said the ISPCA, accompanied by Garda members, had turned up without a warrant.
Mr Golden, he said, did not recall them producing a warrant.
Mr McDonagh spoke of the concerns Mr Golden had about three strangers arriving at his door at 9.15am.
The animals, he said, were in effect like children to him, He had rescued them from homelessness.
Mr McDonagh described it as “a very sad situation which seemed to have exploded beyond what anybody could have envisaged.”
It was a highly regrettable aberration, counsel continued, and he was instructed to offer an apology to all involved.
Judge Garavan said the accused’s heart was in the right place as regards the animals but authorities were clearly doing their job. They found certain things that were not acceptable to them and Mr Golden, sadly, had to be tasered.
Stating that there would be no benefit in imprisoning Golden, the judge imposed suspended sentences of 18 months on two counts of assault with a third count taken into consideration.
There was no benefit in imprisoning this man, the judge said. The judge imposed suspended jail sentences of 18 months on each of the assault charges with a third count taken into consideration. The sentences will run concurrently.
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