Hoax 999 caller gets jail sentence

AN 18 year-old man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for making a hoax 999 call, prompting a response by two units of the fire brigade, gardaí and the coast guard helicopter on a night when their services were needed elsewhere.

Nathan Coughlan of 16 Station Court, Ennis pleaded guilty to sending a message which he knew to be false, by means of the telecommunication system for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, contrary to section 13 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act 1983.

Outlining the details in the case, Detective Garda Stephen Hession said on November 30 last, at 8.57pm, the 999 emergency number received a call from a man who told them “a fella had thrown himself into the river” in Ennis.

The detective said the call was made from a phone with no SIM card.

He said the call resulted in the response of a number of emergency services including the coast guard helicopter, costing more than €5,000, two units of Ennis Fire Brigade, at a cost of €1,600 and four members of An Garda Síochána.

“There was another call that night where a van had gone through the front of Shiels garage in Ennis. The defendant was informed there was another serious call that night and was asked was the call legitimate. The defendant stressed to the operator that the call was legitimate,” Detective Hession told the court.
Detective Hession said Coughlan was detected through audio identification and subsequently made admissions.

Inspector Tom Kennedy also outlined that on June 16, 2014 the 999 services received a call at 10pm at its fire control that someone had allegedly gone into the river in Ennis and the emergency services responded.

“Garda Deirdre Doherty was on mountain bike patrol in the Parnell Street area at the time and a witness came to her and said he had overheard the call to the emergency services being made. She discovered that the defendant, who was still in the area, had made the call and it was a hoax call. She alerted the emergency services and this prevented a widespread response to this call,” Inspector Kennedy said.

The court heard that the defendant has a number of previous convictions which were committed while he was a juvenile. These included criminal damage, robbery, burglary, theft, trespass and road traffic offences.

Defence solicitor John Casey said these offences were indicative of his client seeking attention. “He would look on this as exciting to him and as something to watch. He did not appreciate the seriousness of the incident, when the call at Shiels needed all emergency services. This is not a case where the services could have been taken from another incident, this is a definite incident and the caller was asked was it a hoax because of this other extremely serious incident. He has always wanted to plead guilty and he knows he will get a sentence. This has caused upset and embarrassment to his parents and he has asked me to apologise. He didn’t appreciate it at the time and saw this as a prank,” Mr Casey said.

The court heard that the cost of having the fire services at the scene was €1,600 and that the presence of the coast guard helicopter would have cost in excess of €5,000.

Judge Patrick Durcan told the court ahead of sentencing that, in his view, anyone who interferes with organs of the State in such a manner will face the toughest of penalties in his court. He said he regarded such action “as nothing short of subversion”.

In this case, the gardaí, fire services and coast guard had “put all their systems on full alert and into action” on foot of this bogus call.
He said “the mind boggles” to know why the defendant would do such a thing. He deemed the defendant’s actions as “reprehensible” and had cost the State a “huge amount of money that it can ill afford”.

Judge Durcan also commended the efforts of the member of the public who brought it to garda attention, thereby preventing the need for the emergency services to respond to the incident in June.
He imposed a five-month prison sentence on the November 13, 2013 charge and a further five-month prison sentence in respect of the June 16, 2014 charge, which he ordered to run concurrently.

The accused will serve the sentence in a detention facility, as he is under the age of 21.

 

Carol Byrne