Driver forced garda to jump out of his way at Covid-19 checkpoint 

A Donegal man who was jailed for the manslaughter of a garda in 2009 endangered the life of another garda by driving straight at him, a court has heard.

Martin McDermott appeared at Donegal Circuit Court after he had pleaded guilty to endangering Garda Martin Kilcoyne at Raymoghey, Manorcunningham, on April 14, 2020.

The 36-year-old also admitted drink driving, driving without a licence and assaulting Garda Kilcoyne on the same date.

Garda Kilcoyne was operating a Covid -19 checkpoint at 10.20pm. He was speaking to a female driver when another car approached. He had indicated to the other car to slow down when the driver he was speaking to shouted a warning.

The car approached at speed and swerved around the stationary car, forcing Garda Kilcoyne to jump out of the way. 

He said the car had ample opportunity to stop but it had accelerated towards him. He said he was fearful he could have been seriously injured.

If it was not for the warning from the other driver, he wouldn't have been able to jump out of the way of the car, he said.

Gardaí followed the car which swerved across the road and went around a bend on the wrong side of the road. 

The car lost control and attempted to drive on the wrong side of the dual carriageway against an oncoming car. 

The car came to a stop and the driver fled and hid in undergrowth. When the driver, McDermott, was found by gardaí,  he kicked Garda Kilcoyne in the chest and knocked him to the ground. He was abusive to gardaí and had to be restrained as he was taken to Letterkenny garda station. At the station, he was breathalysed and found to be positive for alcohol.

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McDermott has served a sentence for the manslaughter of Garda Gary McLoughlin.

He was driving a car which struck  Buncrana-based Garda McLoughlin who was manning a checkpoint at Burt on December 13, 2009.

McDermott had been trying to evade gardaí during a high-speed pursuit that lasted 30km and reached speeds of up to 150km/h.

The court heard he has 98 previous convictions for offences including forgery, theft, burglary and dangerous driving.

In a letter of apology he read in court, McDermott said there is not a day that he does not think about the crash that killed Garda McLoughlin and he is still trying to get over it.

The father of three said he became addicted to drugs in prison. He moved to Dublin to escape “media pressure” following his conviction where he abused alcohol and drugs.

He said he has a cyst on his brain and is on medication.

On the night in question, he made a foolish mistake to get into the car and drive.

McDermott said he knows that he has to turn his life around.

Defence counsel Garnet Orange SC said the accused knew he was driving when he shouldn’t have been and had accelerated to try to get around the garda.

He said it was a case of “potentially catastrophic bad driving”. 

Mr Orange said  McDermott has had “a lot of problems with the law” but had been keeping his head down up until the point he was detected.

He said McDermott had made a genuine expression of remorse and he appealed for leniency.

Judge John Aylmer adjourned the finalisation of sentencing.