James McMahon jailed for shotgun possession

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

James McMahon received a seven-year prison term, with three years suspended, from Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The judge took the dangerous driving offences into account. The proceedings were reported on 23 February 2015.

McMahon pleaded guilty to gun possession. That offence occurred on 11 September 2013. He also admitted endangerment and dangerous driving, along with driving without insurance, driving while disqualified and failing to stop a vehicle for gardaí. These offences occurred in the Lucan area of Dublin on 5 April 2013. Most of his 63 previous convictions concerned road traffic offences.

Aged 23, McMahon had stayed at his girlfriend’s home to babysit their two-year-old son and left a loaded Beretta shotgun inside a wardrobe. His girlfriend found it three days afterwards. She spent two days demanding its removal, but he left it there. Gardaí subsequently raided the apartment after receiving a tip-off and found the weapon.

Sgt Damien Gannon agreed with defence counsel Anne Marie Lawlor BL that McMahon had grounds for believing he was under threat. The report said it was accepted that shots had been fired at his home before the gun offence. The following April, a fire deliberately set at the house forced the evacuation of his entire family at midnight.

Ms Lawlor described his decision to arm himself as a misguided effort to protect himself and his family from further attacks. She said a personal grievance against him lay behind the attacks. She acknowledged that he was not innocent, while arguing that his criminal action was intended to safeguard his family.

Sgt Gannon also accepted that the guilty plea had exceptional value. He agreed that McMahon had relocated to Tallaght and had attracted no further Garda attention in the meantime.