Man jailed for threatening gardaí during barricade

A man who barricaded himself into a house he had broken into before threatening gardaí has been jailed.

Robert Hedderman (30) was under the influence of a number of drugs when he told gardaí to "get the f**k away from me or I'll f*****g kill you. I'll burn the place down", Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Hedderman, of Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to burglary, criminal damage and unlawfully producing a firework in a manner likely to intimidate a garda at a flat on North Great Georges Street, Dublin on May 6th, 2014.

Garda Maria Harman told Anne Rowland BL, prosecuting, that she went to the premises after a neighbour saw Hedderman using a hacksaw to cut the bars in the window of the flat and raised the alarm.

Hedderman told the neighbour he was working on the house, shortening the window, and that he hoped the noise wasn’t disturbing him.

When gardaí arrived, they found Hedderman in the flat and told him to leave.

Hedderman then made the threat in question. Ms Harman said he had a very large kitchen knife. He was also holding a lighter and trying to light various items of furniture on fire.

Ms Harman called for armed backup as Hedderman told them: “F**k off or I’ll burn the place.”

Small explosions

Gardaí­ then heard a number of small explosions and realised that Hedderman was lighting fireworks and throwing them down on top of them from a window.

Officers were forced to move back to avoid injury before members of the Public Order Unit arrived with fire resistant shields.

A Dublin Fire Brigade crew also arrived at the scene and gardaí­began evacuating neighbouring houses in case Hedderman did start a fire.

By this stage, Hedderman had barricaded himself inside the flat using furniture while still brandishing the knife.

When Hedderman moved to the back of the flat, armed gardaí­moved in and broke down the barricade.

After three warnings to drop the knife and get on the ground, Hedderman complied and was arrested.

The court heard that the damage to the door cost €500 to repair.

Hedderman has 25 previous convictions and had previously been jailed for burglaries.

Kathleen Leader BL, defending, said her client has a long-standing heroin addiction and that he was breaking into the flat to fund his €200 a week drug habit.

Ms Leader said Hedderman was on a cocktail of drugs at the time and told gardaí the next day that he couldn’t remember what he had done.

Ms Leader submitted that he was acting irrationally while in the building, including walking around the flat wearing a top hat. The judge suggested that trying to set fire to a building he was occupying at the time was also irrational.

The judge said that Hedderman had behaved in a violent and threatening manner. However, he said that he appears to be off drugs now and is doing reasonably well while in custody.

The judge backdated a jail term of three years to May last, when Hedderman went into custody.