Judge Shot in court-by solicitor!

golum · 17-09-2009 2:55pm #1

Just heard that Judge John Neilan has been shot with a pellet gun during a family law hearing in Longford District Court!

Thought that lad had retired...

johnciall · 17-09-2009 3:11pm

Source?

Hooch · 17-09-2009 3:53pm

http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/Judge-shot-by-air-pistol.5656261.jp

johnciall · 17-09-2009 4:15pm

... why was it loaded?

Farcear · 17-09-2009 5:13pm

That's quite funny.

I wonder if the "shooter" won the case?

Our man in Havana · 17-09-2009 10:41pm

We will never know.

It is shocking that the gun was loaded in the first place.

Trojan911 · 18-09-2009 9:07am

Bond-007 wrote: »

It is shocking that the gun was loaded in the first place.

Shockingly incompetent spings to my mind... Is there not a system in place where the firearm has been shown to be safe?

tsk tsk.....

cushtac · 18-09-2009 9:19am

Trojan911 wrote: »

Shockingly incompetent spings to my mind... Is there not a system in place where the firearm has been shown to be safe?

It wasn't a firearm, it was airsoft and therefore a toy.

Hooch · 18-09-2009 9:59am

Trojan911 wrote: »

Shockingly incompetent spings to my mind... Is there not a system in place where the firearm has been shown to be safe?

tsk tsk.....

Nor are most Gardaí firearms trained. tsk tsk......;)

Take it out on the system, not the members.

Paulw · 18-09-2009 11:43am

And I doubt solicitors are trained with firearms either.

At least it was only an airgun.

kavoweb · 18-09-2009 11:49am

It was a pellet gun,not an airsoft gun. a small childs 2euro pellet gun by all accounts.

Trojan911 · 18-09-2009 12:08pm

cushtac wrote: »

It wasn't a firearm, it was airsoft and therefore a toy.

Reported on the above link as an "air pistol", like this link, and not airsoft or maybe you have a link that can say otherwise?

nice guy always wrote:

Nor are most Gardaí firearms trained. tsk tsk......

Neither are all Met/Pol officers, however they have a system in place where an AFO comes in and proves the weapon safe and then sticks a brightly coloured sticker on the exhibit box to show it is safe and stating it is safe.

AGS not got this far?

nice guy always wrote:

Take it out on the system, not the members.

Who's taking it out on "members", not me fella. Shouldn't be so quick to judge. Try taking off the blinkers, you'll see a lot more.

Someone screwed up somewhere.

Farcear · 18-09-2009 12:53pm

Nice article about this little incident: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/judge-shot-in-face-in-courthouse-14499779.html

Have to love the irony of it all!

A judge in the Republic of Ireland was accidentally shot in the face by a solicitor who was trying to demonstrate that an air pistol was harmless.

As for who bears responsibility, it seems to be the solicitor himself...

Normally, in criminal cases, an exhibits officer is appointed by gardai to present evidence in the courtroom.

However, on this occasion, the matter was a civil one and it would be the responsibility of the solicitor in court to ensure the evidence was secure.

cushtac · 18-09-2009 1:52pm

Trojan911 wrote: »

Reported on the above link as an "air pistol", like this link, and not airsoft or maybe you have a link that can say otherwise?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0918/1224254803121.html

The article states it was a toy and that it had been bought for a child by the father.

Trojan911 wrote: »

Neither are all Met/Pol officers, however they have a system in place where an AFO comes in and proves the weapon safe and then sticks a brightly coloured sticker on the exhibit box to show it is safe and stating it is safe.

AGS not got this far?

They would have gone this far if they had actually known about it. Family Law cases are heard in camera & without Gardaí present. Unless the solicitor in question told Gardaí about the gun they'd have no way of knowing of its existance.