Six-inch blade on a hurley

A Nenagh man discovered in one of the main streets of the town in possession of a hurley to which a six inch blade was attached has been jailed for the offence under the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act.

Adam Maxwell, aged 24 - who the court heard had 40 previous convictions, including for assault, criminal damage and drug offences - told gardaí that he had the hurley and blade for his own protection.

Recalling the incident at a sitting of Nenagh District Court last Friday, Sergeant Regina McCarthy said Mr Maxwell was in a highly intoxicated state at the time of his arrest for possession of the weapon.

The implement, seized from the defendant on the date of the offence on the evening of Christmas Eve 2019, was produced in court.

Sergeant McCarthy said the six-inch sharply pointed blade had been screwed into the lower end of the hurley.

“His behaviour was erratic and he appered to be under the influence of an intoxicant and the hurley was seized,” Sergeant McCarthy told the court.

Mr Maxwell was subsequently arrested and brought to the garda station where he was charged under Section 9.1 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 and subsequently pleaded guilty to the offence. Judge Mary Cashin, after seeing the weapon, described it as “a very, very serious implement”.

She noted that the section of the act under which the defendant was charged referred to possession of “a flick-knife”.

“But this was a lot more than a flick-knife and I take a serious view,” she said, before imposing a jail sentence.