A GERMAN national produced a specially sharpened woodcutter's hatchet in one of the main streets of an east Cork town, making everyone in sight run for their lives, a court was told yesterday.
Andres Kolbe (37), who had no fixed address in Ireland, was sentenced to jail for nine months in total after he pleaded guilty to having two hatchets, a knife, a primed petrol bomb and causing more than £2,300 worth of damage to a car in Midleton, Co Cork on December 27th, last.
Mr James McGrath told Judge John Clifford he stopped his car to allow another car to make a Uturn in the middle of Connolly Street but twice the car reversed into him. When he got out to investigate, Kolbe got out of his car with a hatchet in his hand and asked: "Is there a problem?"
"I was frightened for my life and we all had to run," said Mr McGrath.
Gda Joe O'Connor told Midleton District Court he was in, the area at the time, but when he approached Kolbe he became very violent and went to the boot of his car where he had a large axe. "He had a knife, a large axe, two small axes and a primed petrol bomb in the car," he said.
Mr Redmond Kelly, solicitor for Kolbe, said he came to Ireland at the end of November and some of the time lived rough. He had spent two months in a psychiatric hospital in England after he was involved in a similar incident there some years ago. When he returned to Germany he was receiving treatment, but did not continue this treatment when he came to Ireland. ..
Mr Ken Murray, solicitor for Mr McGrath, said he hoped to recover the cost of the damage to the car from a German insurance company.
Judge Clifford sentenced Kolbe to nine months in jail for having a petrol bomb, nine months for damaging the car, the property of Ms Ellen McGrath, two months for producing a hatchet to intimidate Mr James McGrath and two months for having a knife with a sharply pointed blade, all to run concurrently. However, he delayed enforcing the sentence until today to give him time to pay compensation to Ms McGrath for the damage to her car.