A Dublin man who shot an Emergency Response Unit Garda in an armed dawn raid, left the Central Criminal Court yesterday after being given a suspended sentence. David Thomas (34) of Finglas was given concurrent suspended sentences of nine and four years, having been found guilty of assaulting two gardai and having firearms and ammunition.
Two gardai were shot in the raid on a flat, where Thomas and members of his family were hiding out following a killing in a Finglas pub some days earlier. Last October Thomas was acquitted by a jury of the murder of Mr Eamon O'Reilly (23), of Ballymun, in a Finglas pub in January 1998. The court heard a fight broke out between the families in a pub that day, which culminated in the shooting dead of Mr O'Reilly.
Thomas arrived at the bar and saw his mother being struck with a pool cue by Mr Eamon O'Reilly. Thomas then discharged his shotgun and Mr O'Reilly later died from his injuries. Thomas was found not guilty of murder.
On January 15th, 1998, the two gardai were shot and wounded in the raid in which Thomas and several members of his family were arrested. Gardai fired no shots. Thomas said he thought the gardai at the door was the O'Reilly faction.
Mr Justice Butler said the injured gardai were "very real heroes" who "truly deserved recognition as such by the entire community". He said he accepted Thomas was "not criminally inclined" and did not need deterring or rehabilitation.