Burglar smashed into garda patrol car

A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for a series of offences including dangerous driving, burglary, and criminal damage. Paul Darcy, with addresses in Dublin and Co Sligo, pleaded guilty to reversing a vehicle into an occupied garda patrol car on September 7, 2018, at Stockhole Lane, Santry, trapping two officers inside and injuring them. He also admitted three burglary charges relating to break-ins at properties in the Glasnevin area on September 2, 2018, unauthorised taking of a taxi from Palmerstown on October 11, 2018, and making off without payment for fuel at a service station two days later. Judge Nolan imposed consecutive sentences on the primary counts while suspending the final 18 months subject to strict conditions. He disqualified Darcy from driving for six years, noting the seriousness of deliberately reversing into an occupied vehicle. The court heard Darcy, who had been on bail at the time of the incident, has since engaged in mental health treatment and is drug-free.