One month in jail for man who abused gardaí
Carlow Garda Station
A MAN from Carlow town was sentenced to one month in jail after being found guilty of engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour against two members of An Garda Síochána. Barry Nolan (22) of Oak Hill, Palatine, Carlow pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court first heard from Garda Butler, who said that on 22 May at 11.42am he was on patrol with another officer when they observed a male on an e-scooter driving the wrong way on Old Dublin Road. They slowed the patrol car and Garda Butler’s partner Garda Whelan put his hand out of the window to indicate for Mr Nolan to stop.
Garda Butler said that Mr Nolan did not come to a stop and said: “What the f**k do you want?” and continued on.
The gardaí said that they then put the patrol lights on and followed Mr Nolan up Station Road until they were able to intercept and stop him. Garda Butler said that Mr Nolan was very aggressive and confrontational and was screaming “What the f**ck do you want?” at the two gardaí.
Mr Nolan also pulled open the car door and said: “F**k off, what the f**k do you want? Search me, what do you want?” according to Garda Butler. The garda noted that he found it unusual that Mr Nolan would say “search me”.
He then attempted to arrest Mr Nolan, but he resisted by putting his hands on Garda Butler’s neck area and starting to push. Garda Butler gave a direction to desist, but as Mr Nolan would not, he deployed pepper spray.
The gardaí were then able to arrest Mr Nolan, who was conveyed to Carlow Garda Station and his e-scooter was seized.
Solicitor Joe Farrell asked Garda Butler if he had had any previous interactions with Mr Nolan. He replied that he had not.
Mr Farrell also asked whether there could have been some mix-up or if it was unclear whether the garda wanted Mr Nolan to stop on Old Dublin Road. “It’s fairly obvious when a garda puts a hand out a window that it is to stop,” Garda Butler said in response.
Mr Farrell then asked if the garda said anything to Mr Nolan on Old Dublin Road. Garda Butler said that he could not recall saying anything to Mr Nolan at that point. Garda Butler added that at first all he wanted to do was to stop Mr Nolan for a conversation and that he was planning to give him the benefit of the doubt and ask him to get off the road.
Garda Whelan then testified. His testimony matched Garda Butler’s, but he said that when they stopped Mr Nolan on Station Road, he told Mr Nolan to “calm down”. He also said that Mr Nolan told the two gardaí that he had just come from the opticians.
Garda Whelan described Mr Nolan as “very irate” and said that he was also planning to have a “quick chat” with Mr Nolan when he put his hand out the window on Old Dublin Road.
Mr Farrell then asked again if it was possible that Mr Nolan did not understand that the garda wanted him to stop.
Garda Whelan replied: “No, he shouted; he obviously knew that we wanted him to stop.”
Mr Nolan then took the stand to testify.
Mr Farrell said that Mr Nolan had called him to represent him on the day the incident occurred.
Mr Nolan said that on the day in question he had gone to Jennings Opticians to pick up a new pair of glasses and that he had seen the garda sticking his hand out on the window on Old Dublin Road and said “What do you want?” before continuing on.
He said that on Station Road, the garda stopped him and told him that they were arresting him for a public order offence, but that no valid reason for the arrest was given by gardaí at the time. He said that the two gardaí had knocked the glasses off his face.
He admitted to grabbing Garda Butler but said that he only did that as a reflex after Garda Butler had grabbed him. He said that he had tried to give the garda a letter proving that he had just been to the opticians, but before he could, he was coughing and spitting up pepper spray.
He told the court that he did not think that he had done anything wrong and that excessive force was used against him. He was then brought to Carlow Garda Station, where he asked for medical treatment for the pepper spray, but claimed the gardaí laughed at him and said that he would be alright.
The prosecuting sergeant then questioned Mr Nolan. He first asked if Mr Nolan had been driving the wrong way down the road.
Mr Nolan said that he had been driving on the footpath but had swerved onto the road to avoid a buggy. He also said that he had used no foul language until he was pepper sprayed on Station Road and that he had not seen any blue lights.
He said that he told the gardaí that they “cannot be doing this” and said that he had been “harassed by gardaí”.
He also accused the garda of escalating matters by pepper spraying him. “The last thing going through that guard’s mind should have been to pepper spray me,” Mr Nolan said.
Judge Andrew Gubbins then asked Mr Nolan if the headlights of the squad car were coming against him. Mr Nolan said they were.
Mr Farrell said that his client was of the opinion that the gardaí had been heavy-handed. Mr Farrell then said that although the area is well covered by CCTV, there was no footage from the patrol car. He said that he had emailed the gardaí on 10 July asking for CCTV footage, but none had been supplied.
The prosecuting sergeant said that Mr Nolan had been driving dangerously, had not stopped when asked and was apprehended. In relation to the accusation of being heavy-handed, he said that pepper spray was the first equipment that gardaí are taught to use to de-escalate a situation before using a baton. He said that there was no note of a specific disclosure of CCTV and that the area where the incident occurred was not covered by CCTV.
Judge Gubbins then summed up the case. He said that Mr Nolan was riding his e-scooter on a footpath, which he should not have been on, saw gardaí coming towards him and got off the footpath and onto the road. With the headlights of the squad car facing him, he drove on and accepted that he was driving the wrong way. He knew that gardaí were trying to stop him but chose to drive on and the gardaí then stopped him.
Judge Gubbins said that from Mr Nolan’s demeanour when giving evidence he obviously felt quite aggrieved. He accepted the garda’s evidence that Mr Nolan was aggressive from the outset of their interaction and that they had tried to calm him down, but such was the defendant’s temper that he grabbed Garda Butler by the stab vest.
“I don’t for a moment accept that the gardaí decided to knock the glasses off your face,” Judge Gubbins said.
He concluded by saying that all the ingredients were met for a section 6 public order offence and duly convicted Mr Nolan.
The prosecuting sergeant then said that Mr Nolan had four previous convictions, the most recent from Carlow District Court on 11 December 2025, where he was fined and banned from driving for four years. He had also been convicted of an offence relating to section 3 of the .
Mr Farrell said that he would take what the court had said about his client’s demeanour into consideration and talk to his client about it. He noted that Mr Nolan had no previous convictions for a section 6 public order offence.
Judge Gubbins said that some of Mr Nolan’s previous convictions also had to do with a lack of co-operation or hostility when dealing with gardaí. He said that while the defendant was not being punished for pleading not guilty, he was not being given any credit either. He sentenced Mr Nolan to one month in custody, saying that Mr Nolan had committed the top tier of a public order offence when he put his hands on gardaí.
Mr Farrell then asked Judge Gubbins to fix recognisance, which he set at €300, and then put €500 on bond. Judge Gubbins also accepted Mr Farrell’s request for legal aid.
