By Gordon Deegan
A 28-year-old father is to plead guilty to endangering the life of his three and a half month old baby girl when he held her upside down by one leg over a river.
At Ennis Circuit Court today, solicitor Daragh Hassett told Judge Brian O’Callaghan: “There will be a plea offered and I can formally tell you that a jury won’t be required for the case.”
The accused man has remained in custody since the alleged offences took place on April 11th last after he was refused bail in the district court and the High Court.
In the case the man - who appeared via video link - is facing seven charges concerning a series of alleged offences over a four-hour period at four different locations during a stand off with gardaí in Ennis on April 10th and the early hours of April 11th last.
Members of the Garda Armed Response Unit along with trained negotiators were called in to defuse the situation concerning the father and his baby girl.
The man was arrested and the baby was returned into the arms of her mother shortly after 2am on April 11th.
The man is accused of intentionally or recklessly engaging in conduct where he held the baby upside-down by one leg over the River Fergus at Woodquay, Ennis which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm contrary to Section 13 of the Offences Against the Person Act on April 10th last.
The man is also accused of intentionally or recklessly swinging the baby over his head and to the ground aggressively and narrowly missing a steel pole at Carmody Street, Ennis which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to the baby on April 10th.
The man is also accused to making a threat to Garda Tim Quirke at Carmody Street, Ennis intending Garda Quirke to believe that it would be carried out to kill or cause serious harm to the baby on April 10th.
The man is also charged with violently tossing the baby around in the air while holding her by one ankle with one hand and threatening to smash her head off the ground which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another at Friar’s Walk, Ennis on April 10th.
The man is also charged that without lawful excuse of making a threat to Alan West for Mr West to believe that the accused would kill or cause the baby serious harm at Barrack Street, Ennis on April 10th.
The man is also charged with making a threat to a woman for her to believe that the accused would kill or cause serious harm to the baby at Friar’s Walk on April 11th.
Judge O’Callaghan further remanded the accused in custody to appear via video link to Ennis Circuit Court on October 13th next.
