A Nigerian asylum-seeker stripped off his shirt and shouted "kill me, kill me" in a refugee processing centre in protest at not being given money for seven weeks, a court heard yesterday.
Adesoji Bnakanthony (23) kicked and bit gardai as they tried to remove him from the Department of Justice centre in Lower Mount Street, Dublin.
Bnakanthony, of Cong, Co Mayo, denied the charges of assault and claimed the gardai mistreated him after his arrest.
He was convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment after District Court President Peter Smithwick said it was quite clear he made "a considerable scene" and the gardai had to be protected against this type of "riotous situation".
Dublin District Court heard gardai received a panic alarm call to the centre on the morning of January 19th. They found Mr Bnakanthony lying on the floor wearing only trousers and shoes. As a garda bent down to speak to him, he shouted: "Kill me, kill me, you want to f . . . ing kill me." Garda Denis Farrell said when he put his hand on the man's wrist, he became "completely violent", kicking out a number of times.
It took both gardai and a member of the centre's security staff to put handcuffs on him. Bnakanthony bit Garda Farrell on the wrist, the court heard.
He was carried to the patrol car, where he continued struggling. i decided to wait for a van to arrive to transport him. to the Garda station. While they were putting him in a van, Bnakanthony kicked Garda Eamonn O'Hara under the eye, the court heard.
Bnakanthony told the court he had been without payment from the Department of Justice for the seven weeks since he had arrived in Ireland. He said he had been forced to sleep on the streets.
He had decided to sit in the refugee centre to draw attention to the way he was being treated, the court heard.
"I had nowhere to go and nowhere to live and this was where I came to apply for political asylum. I could not stand it any more," he said.
He had stripped off his shirt to show how he had lost four stones in seven weeks from having no food or money to buy it. "At that moment I did not care and felt `I am a dead man'," he said.
Judge Smithwick imposed three months on each of the assault charges and ordered that they be served concurrently. He also fixed recognisances for leave to appeal at £200, which Bnakanthony took up yesterday afternoon.