A MAN WHO had a knife, a sharp stick and broken beer bottles was involved in a stand-off with gardaí, Bray District Court heard last Thursday.

John Cash (25), Rathmichael Halting Site, Rathmichael Road, was charged with a breach of the peace and possession of knives and other articles at Rathmichael Halting Site, Rathmichael Road, Rathmichael, on April 10, 2009.

Inspector Noreen McBrien said two gardaí called to the halting site at 4am on the morning in question where Cash was involved in a dispute with his partner, Helen Doran.

Ms. Doran said Cash had locked her out of their caravan and their two-year-old son was inside.

Cash was inside the caravan and used a small table as a shield when the gardaí arrived. He had a small knife in his hand and was smashing beer bottles on the floor which he picked up and put in his trousers pockets.

He told the gardaí they would have to 'take him out and if they entered the caravan he would stab them, causing them harm', she said.

More gardaí arrived on the scene and Cash got 'increasingly agitated and said he had been drinking and taken cocaine'. He smashed beer bottles and held them as a weapon. He then moved to the back of the caravan carrying a broken bottle with a knife in his pocket where his son was asleep.

At this stage gardaí managed to get into the sitting room of the caravan and felt the child was at serious risk. Cash was arrested at 6.15am, she said.

The court heard Cash had three previous convictions.

Acting for Cash, solicitor Joe Maguire said Cash had instructed him that the knife was similar to a knife used for buttering bread and that he was carrying a broom handle which was broken.

Cash, he said, was 25 years old and was the father of two. His youngest child was two and a half years old and had a number of medical problems which was causing Cash and his partner a lot of stress.

Cash, he said, used to live in Tallaght and on October 1, 2008, a number of people came to his caravan in Tallaght and assaulted him which left him with extensive bruising, three deep lacerations on his right hip, a fractured hip and a slash hook cut on the sole of his foot. Mr. Maguire said Cash's attackers were armed with a slash hook and two baseball bats.

While Cash was in hospital recovering from this attack, the windows of his sister's house were broken and Cash then signed himself out of hospital because he was in fear for his family. They then moved to Rathmichael and Cash took to drinking. He sometimes socialised in Ballybrack during which he occasionally took cocaine.

Mr. Maguire said Cash had been out prior to the incident and had some drink taken. When he returned home he found that his partner had taken few drinks at home and they had a row because Cash didn't want any drinking in the caravan when the child was there.

Ms. Doran then left the caravan and called the gardaí.

'The fact of the matter is', said Judge Murrough Connellan that 'Mr. Cash faced the gardai whether it was a butter knife or a sharper one with a knife in his hand putting glass into his trousers and he had a broom handle in his hand during a standoff with gardaí. It is no excuse that he had been taking cocaine. Gardai acted very sensibly by trying not to upset him.

He sentenced him to nine months imprisonment which he suspended for one year in respect of the possession of knives and other articles and sentenced him to six months imprisonment which he suspended for one year in respect of the breach of the peace. A LARAGH MAN was fined €250 at last week's sitting of Bray District Court. Eddie Stakem, 8, Laragh, Glendalough was charged with the non display of disc at Vevay Road, Bray on May 19, 2009.

The court heard that at 4pm on Vevay Road the tax disc on Stakem's vehicle read September 2008. On hearing that Judge Murrough Connellan imposed a fine of €250.