Man who made crank call about gangland shooting gets suspended sentence

A drug addict who made a bogus emergency call about a gangland member being shot in a Dublin pub has been given a suspended sentence.

Eleven garda units, a fire brigade truck and an ambulance raced to the scene after Brendan Treacy (36) made the crank call from his mobile phone two years ago, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Treacy reported that a gangland member had been shot at Peadar Kearney House, Railway Street, Dublin, and that a black Toyota Avensis car had been seen leaving the area.

Emergency response teams remained at the scene for 24 minutes before the operation was called off.

Treacy later answered his phone to gardaí, told them where he was and admitted making the call had been a “moment of madness” while he was “completely wasted” on tablets and vodka.

Sentencing him on Monday, Judge Martina Baxter said the entire community suffered as a result of garda resources being diverted from real crimes. “It was such a dangerous diversion of resources and a waste of valuable time,” Judge Baxter said.

But she noted gardaí were satisfied that Treacy was not attempting to “test Garda response times” or divert them from a particular crime scene. She also commended his efforts in rehabilitating from drugs, noting he has been clean of heroin for two years and now helps others to recover from addiction.

She suspended the two-and-a-half year sentence on a number of conditions.

Treacy, of Jamestown Park, Ratoath, Co. Meath, pleaded guilty to making a false report at an unknown location in Dublin 1 on August 23rd, 2017. He has 40 previous convictions including theft, road traffic and drugs offences.

Detective Sergeant Brendan Casey previously told the court that a mixture of garda units, including the armed response unit and the armed detective unit, attended the scene.

The call was later linked to Treacy’s phone and he agreed to meet gardaí­. He said that earlier on the day in question, while buying tablets, a man threatened to shoot him in the back of the head.

He said he didn’t know why he placed the call, but that it could have been because he had taken 30 tablets and vodka and the man had threatened to shoot him.

He told gardaí he was deeply ashamed of his actions.