Man arrested with loaded rifle in Cork to appear in court

A 27-year-old man arrested with a loaded rifle by gardaí on the outskirts of Cork city on Wednesday afternoon is due to appear in court on Friday on firearms and related charges.

The man who is from the Mayfield area is due to be brought before a special sitting of Cork District Court today after he was arrested and questioned all day Thursday at Gurranebraher Garda Station.

The man was arrested for firearms offences after he crashed a stolen jeep on Spring Hill in Glanmire on the outskirts of Cork city around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Two gardaí from Mayfield were on duty in the area when a passing motorist stopped to inform them there had a crash on Spring Hill.

The two gardaí proceeded immediately to the scene where they found a crashed Mitsubishi Pajero and saw a young man leaving the scene armed with a rifle.

The gardaí managed to disarm the young man who was high on some intoxicant and confiscated the rifle which turned out to be loaded.

They arrested him under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State and brought him to Gurranebraher Garda Station.

Gardaí established that the man had stolen a car in Thurles in Co Tipperary earlier that afternoon and had crashed the car on the N8 motorway before taking to the fields.

The man then stole the car from a field near Cashel and found the rifle in the back of the vehicle before heading back towards Cork.

He drove to Glanmire and pulled into Grandon’s Garage where he filled up the car with diesel before attempting to drive off without paying.

However the man crashed the vehicle into a petrol pump, demolishing the pump and causing several thousand euros worth of damage before travelling towards Spring Hill where he crashed again.