A garda inspector has told a court that he feared for his life and believed he may die during an incident in Co Longford eight years ago, during which a Belgian Shepherd dog was set on him.
Tom Quinn, who was a Sergeant in Granard at the time, said a video of the incident on 3 December 2018 which had been edited and circulated widely on social media, caused him and his family "huge distress".
He said the video made national headlines at the time and was accompanied by "horrible and vicious commentary".
Mr Quinn said he was the subject of threats and said that following the incident, he was forced to take his children from the family home for a number of weeks.
At Longford Circuit Court today, Edward 'Blondie' Stokes, aged 35, formerly of Ferriskill, Granard, Co Longford, was jailed for 15 months.
His wife Sharon Stokes, aged 38, formerly of Ferriskill, Granard, Co Longford, was given 150 hours of community service.
Edward 'Blondie' Stokes had pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment, production of a slash hook, criminal damage and giving false information to GSOC, now known as Fiosrú on 3 December 2018.
Sharon Stokes had pleaded guilty to a charge of production of a slash hook and giving false information to GSOC, now known as Fiosrú on the same date.
At sentencing today Judge Kenneth Connolly said the video had promoted a "self-serving and distorted" narrative that Mr Stokes had been shot without any mention of the dog.
He noted the evidence from now Inspector Quinn and the fact his career and reputation had been adversely affected.
In mitigation, Judge Connolly said he was taking into consideration the guilty pleas and in the case of Edward 'Blondie' Stokes the efforts he has since made to rehabilitate and educate himself.
The judge said the 35-year-old, who is serving a separate prison sentence for affray and violent disorder, had brought to court an impressive array of certificates.
Mr Stokes had also written a letter to the Judge giving "a gold-plated commitment" not to engage in criminality for the rest of his life.
Judge Connolly sentenced him to three years and three months in prison, suspending the final two years for five years.
He said the sentence will run consecutively to his current prison term.
"It is completely separate with completely separate victims" the judge said.
Judge Connolly sentenced Sharon Stokes to 15 months in prison, reducing it to 12 months and commuting it to 150 hours community service, noting that she was a mother of seven and had a lesser role in the matter.
'Flew into a rage'
Sergeant James Rowan of Longford Garda Station told Longford Circuit Court that then Sergeant Tom Quinn had accompanied a customer to the yard of Edward and Sharon Stokes at Ferriskill in Granard that evening.
The man had given his Blue Transit van to Edward Stokes to have the engine re-conditioned after it had broken down in November.
A friend of his had dealt with him before, the court heard and the men agreed a fee of €1,500 to carry out the work on the engine.
However, the customer had become aware of a major garda operation in the area which had uncovered a number of stolen cars and he became concerned.
He made contact with Mr Quinn in Granard Garda Station who agreed to accompany him to the Stokes' yard to recover the vehicle.
However, when Stokes saw the garda sergeant, he "flew into a rage" Longford Circuit Court heard and he directed his wife to record what was happening.
Longford Circuit Court heard Stokes later directed his wife to get a slash hook.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Quinn said Mr Stokes started waving the slash hook and coming towards him.
"I feared greatly for my life," he said.
He said he also feared for the life of the customer too, who at this stage was behind Mr Stokes retrieving his van and turning it around.
Mr Quinn, who is authorised to carry a firearm, said he has very rarely produced a firearm throughout his career but on this occasion, he was forced to.
"I absolutely did not want to use it," he said.
"In a brave move" he said, the customer saw what was going on, left his van and shoulder charged Edward Stokes, knocking him off balance and grabbing the slash hook.
At this point the court heard, the then garda sergeant took the slash hook and threw it over the hedge.
Mr Quinn then overheard Stokes shouting "get the dog, get the dog".
As both Mr Quinn and the other man attempted to leave, Stokes pursued them, opening the driver's door, assaulting the customer before pulling the key of the ignition and breaking it.
"Many years ago in Templemore I took an oath to protect the people of Ireland," said Mr Quinn.
"In this fleeting moment I thought this is the one time in my career where there is a strong likelihood that I will die doing this.
"I also thought having been at a birthday party with my children over the weekend, I may never see them again or celebrate another birthday with them.
"The dog had its teeth bared and was snarling."
The court heard that as the garda sergeant attempted to shield the customer from the assault and close the door on the van, Edward Stokes goaded the dog which was on a short leash, to attack him.
Mr Quinn said he tried to reason with Edward Stokes to call off the dog who had at this stage "had its teeth bared and was snarling" up into his face.
"I honestly thought both of us were going to die," he said.
Longford Circuit Court heard that Edward Stokes commanded the dog to attack Mr Quinn.
The dog jumped on to Mr Quinn's chest and latched on to his tie, pulling and dragging the Garda Sergeant.
Mr Quinn told the court that he was left with no other option but to shoot it.
"I was terrified, it was dragging me, I took the shot," he said.
"I didn't want to discharge my firearm, it was the last thing I wanted to do."
The court heard the dog immediately let go and cowered over into the ditch.
Sharon Stokes began screaming and Edward Stokes backed off a few feet, claiming he had been shot.
The customer fled the area on foot leaving the garda sergeant on the road outside, waiting for garda back up.
Edward Stokes refused to go in an ambulance to hospital but later presented himself for treatment.
The court heard the bullet which had travelled through the dog, hit the road and bounced up grazing Edward Stokes' ankle.
Tom Quinn said that following the incident, he returned to the garda station to write some notes and a colleague alerted him to a social media video of the incident that was being circulated.
Mr Quinn said in the days that followed, the video "did the rounds everywhere on social media" and was accompanied by "horrible and vicious commentary".
"Many newspapers took images from the clip which showed me discharge the round, some on their front pages," he said.
"My face was pixelated but it was pretty clear it was me. This caused me huge distress.
"The video is still all over multiple social media forums. My children recently told me that they have all seen it."
Criticism of former garda commissioner Drew Harris
In the victim impact statement, Inspector Quinn said he returned to duty the following day and on the 5 December he received a visit from the Assistant Commissioner for the Western Region.
He said she gave certain assurances that she felt he had acted properly and that the organisation would protect him.
"My experience has been quite the opposite" he said.
Mr Quinn criticised the then garda commissioner Drew Harris for failing to make contact with him and for refusing to sign his promotion warrant in December 2018.
"It seemed he formed the opinion that I was guilty of something," he said.
Inspector Quinn said even after he was cleared by GSOC of any wrongdoing, his calls to Human Resource Management about his promotion went unanswered.
Mr Quinn said when he was promoted in August 2019, he sought to have his promotion backdated as it had an effect on his pay, pension and further promotional opportunities.
Having initially sought to resolve the situation through the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, the case ended up in the High Court, Mr Quinn said.
The court said that given GSOC's findings not backdating the promotion would "wrongly penalise" the inspector over what amounted to be false accusations against him.
Mr Quinn pointed out that he believes the current Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly would not have allowed the situation to be handled so badly.
Mr Quinn said he had been on a panel for promotion to Superintendent, before the High Court action however the panel was cut short of where he was placed.
He said he has since applied twice for promotion to the rank of Superintendent but has not been selected for promotion either time.
Mr Quinn thanked his family and garda colleagues for their support and said that although he took eight years, he hoped that telling his side of the story would bring some closure.
