Man jailed for hospital bomb threat calls judge a ‘f**king scumbag' in outburst

Sunday World

3 days ago

On being led by away, he shouted at Judge Finnegan: 'Fifteen f****** months for that? You're a f****** scumbag, Judge. You're a dead man Judge
A man in his 50s who was jailed for a total of 15 months for threatening to have Cavan General Hospital 'blown up' launched a blistering attack on a District Court judge as he was being led away from court, telling him: 'Fifteen f****** months for that? You're a f****** scumbag, judge. You're a dead man judge, you are a f****** dead man.'
Ciaran Brady (52) Aghatoten, Tullyvin, Cavan aimed the sinister threat at Judge Raymond Finnegan moments after he sentenced him for an incident last October that resulted in patients having to be transferred to other hospitals and gardaí having to roll out additional patrols in and around the Lisdarn campus.
Brady, who went into custody on May 1 this year, pleaded guilty to the episode alongside three other public order related offences that occurred within three days of one another towards the end of April.
Brady, likewise tendered a guilty plea to making 'numerous calls' to gardaí on April 24 this year during which he vowed to smash the windows of Cootehill Garda Station unless officers came to arrest him.
Ciaran Brady
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Sgt Damien Galligan, for the State, said when gardaí approached and spoke to the accused, he told them after caution: 'I was going to smash the place up, only for you to arrest me. You were lucky you got here in time.'
That came four days after the Cavan man was arrested when he was found standing in the middle of a road at Tullvin Village in Cavan and acting in an 'aggressive manner' while 'shouting at passing vehicles'.
In between both those incidents, Brady was arrested and charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour along Cootehill's Market Street.
Sgt Galligan said when gardaí spoke to the accused at around 8:30am that morning, he suddenly became abusive to officers and shouted: 'F*** you, you c*** garda, go fuck yourselves. I will do something to get arrested, go f*** yourself.'
The court was told as gardaí escorted Brady to a garda van, he threatened one of the arresting officers' wife and family.
In outlining what Judge Finnegan ultimately described as 'far and away the most serious' offence, Sgt Galligan told of how a female volunteer from the Samaritans received a phone call on October 22, 2024 from an unidentified male, pledging that Cavan General Hospital would be 'blown up the following morning'.
The court heard how gardaí, together with hospital management were forced to enact a string of contingency measures, among which included the transferral of a number of patients to other hospitals alongside extra patrols being rolled out by senior garda bosses.
Sgt Galligan said in the aftermath of the incident, detectives quickly identified Brady as a potential suspect even though he was in custody at the time.
Judge Finnegan was told staff in Castlerea confirmed Brady had access to a phone at the time of the call and that it came from Castlerea Garda Station.
In defence, Damien Rudden said his client, in pleading guilty to all charges before the court, was someone who suffered from schizophrenia.
He said Brady had tendered those pleas at the 'first available opportunity' and was back taking his medication since going into custody at the beginning of May.
Judge Finnegan, in delivering sentence, branded the charges as 'serious', saying their continuity had caused 'huge disruption' to gardaí and other agencies.
He subsequently sentenced Brady to three months for the threat to cause criminal damage to Cootehill Garda Station, backdating it to May 1.
Further sentences of three months and nine months were issued for one of the public order charges and the hoax call respectively, both of which were directed to run consecutively.
The remaining charges, Judge Finnegan announced, would be taken into direction, as he confirmed Brady's sentencing had resulted in a total of 15 months being handed down.
That sparked a furious outburst from Brady as he unleashed a foul-mouthed attack in the direction of the bench.
On being led by away by prison officers, he shouted at Judge Finnegan: 'Fifteen f****** months for that? You're a f****** scumbag, Judge. You're a dead man Judge, you are a f****** dead man.'