A man who threatened a court in December 2018 with a fake pistol and a hoax pipe bomb has been jailed for six years.

Edmund Dunican, with an address at Stadium Business Park, Ballycoolin, Dublin, held up a judge, a barrister, and his estranged wife during a family law hearing in Smithfield.

Imitation firearm

He pleaded guilty to one count of carrying an imitation firearm with criminal intent in a courtroom in Dublin on 20 December 2018.

Fitter Dunican had around his neck a home-made device like a pipe bomb. He threatened opposing barrister Lisa Daly. The judge, the judicial assistant and the registrar were told they could leave.

The judge did not leave but asked the man to put down his weapon.

The 17-minute siege ended after an armed garda negotiator persuaded Dunican to surrender the gun. An armed forces unit was called in to examine the device.

The court heard yesterday that in a letter of apology to the victims Dunican said: “I never intended to hurt anyone”.

Remorse

Judge Patricia Ryan reduced a sentence of 11 years to eight years because of mitigating factors including Dunican's remorse and his state of mind at the time.

Fiona Murphy SC, defending, said that at the time her client “was a man on the edge” and felt this was “his only course of action”.

He had previously had a successful business, but his life had "crumbled" in recent years. He also suffered from heart problems.

Judge Ryan backdated the sentence to the day of the offence, when Dunican went into custody.