A man who had a sawn-off shotgun for his and his family’s protection after his home had been shot at a number of times has been jailed for four years.
James McMahon (23) left the loaded Beretta shotgun in a wardrobe in his girlfriend’s home after he had stayed there to babysit their two-year-old son.
The woman discovered the gun while getting dressed for work three days later and contacted McMahon over the course of two days demanding that he remove it from her home.
Sergeant Damien Gannon told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting that McMahon had ignored many of his girlfriend’s texts but when she informed him she would get rid of it herself, he told her not to, texting: “Don’t touch it. It’s loaded and my prints are all over it”.
He didn’t remove it and it was still in the apartment when gardaí raided her home following a tip off.
McMahon previously of Riversdale, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the gun on September 11, 2013.
He also pleaded guilty to endangerment, dangerous driving, failing to stop a vehicle for gardaí, driving while disqualified and driving while uninsured in the Lucan area of Dublin on April 5, 2013. His 63 previous convictions were mostly for road traffic offences.
Judge Martin Nolan sentenced McMahon to seven years in prison with three year suspended and said he was taking the dangerous driving offences into account.
Sgt Gannon agreed with Anne Marie Lawlor BL, defending, that McMahon believed he was under threat and had “good reason to believe that”.
It was accepted that McMahon’s home had been shot at before this offence and the following April his entire family had to be evacuated at midnight when the house was set on fire.
Sgt Gannon further agreed that McMahon’s plea was “of exceptional value”, that he has since moved to Tallaght and has not come to garda attention in the meantime.
Ms Lawlor told Judge Nolan that her client “took preemptive steps of arming himself, in a misguided way, against any future attacks” on him or his family.
She said someone held “a personal gripe” against him and this was what had motivated the attacks.
Counsel accepted that McMahon “is not an innocent” but submitted that he “took this criminal step to protect his family”.
Garda Robert Collins said he was involved in a high speed chase with McMahon shortly after 6am in April 2013 after he instructed him to pull over the Mitsubishi Colt he was driving and the man instead took off at speed.
He first noticed McMahon and two others drive at speed on the Ballyowen slip road on the N4 at Lucan. He was driving his patrol car and they all covered their faces when he approached.
The other two drivers took off at speed and Gda Collins followed McMahon in an effort to arrest him.
McMahon broke a number of red lights and at some points reached 140 km/h, sometimes in a speed limit of 50 km/h. Many other motorists had to take evasive action to avoid crashing into the Colt.
The pursuit came to an end when the Colt crashed into a Nissan Micra after McMahon drove around a roundabout at high speed.
McMahon was arrested but Gda Collins confirmed that “nothing came out” of his interview with gardaí.
Gda Collins agreed with Ms Lawlor that McMahon had the look of someone who had been abusing drugs at the time and that he looks “very different” today.
