GARDAÍ HAVE arrested a man after he unexpectedly and without explanation took his three children from their school yesterday morning and then crashed the car they were travelling in while being followed by a Garda vehicle.
A Garda alert was issued and a ground search launched, backed by the Garda helicopter, as gardaí tried to locate the man and his children aged seven, nine and 12, in the Co Wicklow area.
The car, with the father and children inside, was located early yesterday afternoon after a short pursuit in Co Wicklow, during which the vehicle carrying the family crashed.
The man, who is separated from the children’s mother, was under arrest last night. His mental health was being assessed before he could be questioned fully about events.
One Garda source described the incident as “a tragedy and a sad case”. The man is living in a house in Co Wicklow with his children after separating from his wife. A major search was launched for him and the children yesterday because gardaí were fearful for his mental state and because he had switched from his own car into another vehicle after collecting his children in a possible attempt not to be found.
It is understood the man left the children to school as planned yesterday morning in Rathnew. However, he then returned to the school at about 10am for an unannounced call after having apparently decided to take the children from their classes.
Staff at the school tried to discourage him but he left with the children after a confrontation. He then drove away in his own car and switched with the children to another vehicle which he had got in the area but which was not stolen.
Gardaí believe he did this in an effort to frustrate the search for him.
He was last seen driving in Ashford, Co Wicklow, at about 10.30am.
An intense Garda search in Wicklow resulted in the car being spotted close to Rathnew just after 12.30pm. The vehicle was being followed as it drove northbound on the N11 close to Jack White’s Pub.
The children’s father tried to evade gardaí but crashed his car into a roundabout at the top of the ramp. He was arrested and an ambulance attended to him and the children, although this was a precautionary measure.