Court Hears Man Who Stole Garda Car At Knifepoint Was 'Insane'

A clinical forensic psychiatrist told a court yesterday that a man who threatened a garda at knifepoint, stole a Garda vehicle and later drove dangerously around an airport apron almost hitting a plane was insane at the time.

Defence witness Dr Paul O’Connell said Edmond Stapleton was in a manic and psychotic state when he embarked on a series of events beginning with an assault on Garda Michael Bohane and the theft of his Garda vehicle in Cork city centre in May 2011.

Mr Stapleton later drove to Cork Airport, where he drove on to the apron, hijacked an airport fire service vehicle, rammed an unmarked Garda car and narrowly missed a plane before he was subdued by gardaí using stun guns.

“Mr Stapleton was in a manic and psychotic state of mind . . . his account describes his actions as being grounded in a delusion that he had to sacrifice himself in order to make a political protest,” Dr O’Connell said.

The trial also heard Mr Stapleton, who served in the Irish Naval Service from 1992 to 1996, had begun taking cannabis when he was 18, and had also taken LSD and ecstasy and cocaine but had stopped taking these class-A drugs after a near fatal cocaine overdose three years ago. The case continues next Wednesday.

(H)Court Hears Airport