Longford man who threatened kill ISPCA official tells court: ‘I was ready to go to war with gardaí’

Dylan Greene (28), 87 Springlawn, Longford, Co Longford made the admission at a sitting of Longford Circuit Criminal Court last Friday.

The computer programmer and web designer had previously pleaded guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to ISPCA animal welfare officer Karen Lyons at the accused man’s home address on January 28, 2021.

Mr Greene revealed the level of angst he harboured against gardaí following a number of previous encounters with members attached to the force.

“I was ready to go to war,” he said, during the course of a lengthy Newton hearing, before Judge Kenneth Connolly.

A Newton hearing is a special hearing used in circumstances where there has been a plea but certain relevant facts are disputed and it’s left to a judge to decide who’s telling the truth.

Mr Greene said one of those involved an incident in 2017 during which his now seven-year-old son sustained serious head injuries after falling from a third floor apartment balcony in Longford town.

Under cross examination from State prosecuting counsel Shane Geraghty BL, Mr Greene explained why he told Ms Lyons to bring Gardaí to his door after receiving a report to the charity’s animal welfare hotline number the previous day.

“I did say: ‘Get the guards’,” Mr Greene stated, while revealing a further, more recent interaction with the force.

“I was ready for full on war with the Gardaí. The fact they could tie me up in handcuffs in front of my son with brain damage for a joint.”

Mr Greene said when three members of Gardaí arrived following his stand off with Ms Lyons, tensions may well have overspilled but for the intervention of his partner.

Mr Geraghty put it to him that his statement given to Gardaí was both misleading and “self serving” after initially denying he would kill her.

“No, I swear on the bible,” he replied. I am a traveller and I swear on the truth. If I was to lie, my grandfather would turn in his grave.

“When I said I did not threaten her (Ms Lyons), I wanted to get out (of the garda station). My brain was racing at 100 m/ph.”

Asked if he called Ms Lyons a “dirty w**re”, Mr Greene responded: “I might have.”

Quizzed further about what exactly he shouted at the ISPCA official, he confirmed he branded her a “simple handicap”.

“I genuinely said I was going to stab her to death and called her the height of names.”

Mr Geraghty, interjected for a second time, insisting Mr Greene knew, based on his own acknowledgement of possessing a high IQ, what exactly his motives were in the hours after his arrest.

“You made a conscious decision to be untruthful to gardaí in interview,” he told the father of four and that he had “lost utter control” when Ms Lyons attempted to examine the accused man’s dogs.

Mr Greene rejected that assertion, saying how an incident involving his brother when aged just 14 still riled him to this day.

“No, if I lost control, I would have locked myself away,” he said.

The court was told it was not the first time Mr Greene and Ms Lyons had crossed paths over animal welfare related issues.

The year previously, Ms Lyons called to Mr Greene’s home which resulted in the latter surrendering his American Staffordshire dog to the ISPCA.

Ms Lyons, who broke down in the witness box as she relived the events of two years ago, said she was accused of euthonising Mr Greene’s dog.

She recalled being called a “prostitute” and told to get off Mr Greene’s property.

“I was very shocked he reacted to me that way,” she said.

“I said: 'I am just here to see the dogs' and straight away he was very cross and he said: 'You have no right to be here, there is nothing wrong with my f****** dogs and get the f*** out of here.

“I said: 'Dylan, why are you being like this?' He said: 'You killed my dog, I can prove it.'

The jury in the case was ultimately discharged in a trial which had been expected to take at least two days to complete.

The court, meanwhile, also heard a victim impact statement from Ms Lyons, who told of how she still struggled to comprehend the level of aggression she witnessed on the day of the incident.

“I couldn't believe what had happened,” she said, revealing how she had since begun experiencing bouts of paranoia with her faith in people having also been dented as a result.

“My whole body began to shake. I have a very trusting nature and have always treated people in the way I would like to be treated.”

Following the culmination of the Newton hearing, Judge Connolly told Mr Greene he had been left more than perplexed by the way the Longford man had conducted himself in court.

“You give me real cause for very serious concern in relation to your demeanour,” he said.

Judge Connolly also praised Ms Lyons for the way she had held herself together in court, before once again turning his attention to Mr Greene.

“I feel you don't really understand the very significant nature of what you did,” he told him.

Judge Connolly, in adjourning the case to May 9 next, remanded Mr Greene on continuing bail subject to a number of conditions.

Among them included orders to contact his own GP within seven days to discuss anger management, counselling andappropriate medication, to commit to supervision from the probation services and to sign on at Longford garda station three times weekly.

“One step out of line and I will put you in jail,” he told him.

“I think you are a very articulate man and obviously very intellegent. “But this lady was entitled to do her job and whether you like it or not, she has statutory functions she has to carry out.

“As far as I see it she carried them out perfectly.”

He remanded Mr Greene on bail to appear back before Longford Circuit Criminal Court on May 9.