A notorious criminal who head-butted a Garda and then spat blood in his face in the lobby of a Co Donegal hotel has been jailed for 15 months.
Rodney Bonnes caused havoc in the Inishowen Gateway Hotel in Buncrana on June 12th last year.
The 40-year-old had been off alcohol for five years but went on a booze binge and fell out with his then girlfriend in the hotel.
A complaint was made to Gardai who went to arrest Bonnes in his hotel room which was littered with empty Guinness cans.
They escorted Bonnes from the hotel but as they did so Bonnes erupted and headbutted Garda Kenneth Merritt in the face and he was taken to the ground by Gardai.
However, as he got back up, Bonnes then spat blood in the face of Garda Merritt and shouted “take my blood, you c*** you.”
Bonnes, who has various previous addresses in Derry, appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court when he pleaded guilty to two charges of assault and spitting blood in the face of Garda Merritt.
The court was told that Bonnes has 99 previous convictions including 21 convictions for assaults on police officers in Northern Ireland.
Detective Garda Jason Conroy outlined the case along with state barrister, Ms Fiona Crawford, BL.
CCTV footage of the early morning assault was shown in court.
Detective Conroy said that after Bonnes was arrested and taken to Buncrana Garda Station he continued to act aggressively and told Gardai to “f*** off.”
Garda Merritt was forced to undergo a series of blood tests after the assault for six weeks but was the passed clear.
Although he knew the case was ongoing, he declined to make a victim impact statement and did not wish to attend court, added Detective Conroy.
Barrister for the accused, Mr Peter Nolan, said his client had grown up in a normal family environment in Ballyclare, Co Antrim where his parents had encouraged hard work.
Despite the pressure to become involved with loyalists in the predominantly protestant community, Bonnes did not become involved in the Troubles.
However, his life did begin to unravel in his teenage years but he puts this down to being sexually abused as a child, according to Mr Nolan.
A report conducted on Bonnes by psychiatrist, Dr Kevin Lambe, was read out in court which went through Bonnes’ life and how he had been under threat from loyalists and was forced to move to England under threat for his life.
He suffered post traumatic stress disorder after being beaten by loyalists and was a heavy drug and alcohol user who estimates he has spent between fifteen and 20 years of his life in jail.
On the night in question at the Inishowen Gateway Hotel, Bonnes said he had been pepper-sprayed by Gardai which forced him to lose control as he thought he was choking.
He added that he wanted to say sorry to Garda Merritt and the other Gardai as he never intended to hurt them but that “the alcohol made me lose control.”
Bonnes is now an enhanced prisoner in Castlerea Prison where he has been for almost a year and during that time he has also reconnected with his daughter and learned that he is now a grandfather.
Two letters of apology from Bonnes were handed into court, one addressed to Garda Merritt and one to the court.
Mr Nolan outlined his client’s situation and asked the court to be as lenient as it could with Bonnes when sentencing, adding that he now wants to simply rebuild his life with his daughter and new granddaughter.
Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said the most aggravating factor was that Bonnes had committed two serious assaults on Gardai in the course of their duty.
He also referenced the fact that the accused has so many previous convictions for attacks on police officers in Northern Ireland and said he placed the assault at the lower end of the mid-range meriting a sentence of 3 years in prison before mitigation.
In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said he noted his remorse, the fact that he had indulged in “an extraordinary amount of alcohol” and his early guilty plea.
In the first instance he said he was reducing his sentence by one third to one of two years.
Because of the matters mentioned by Dr Lambe in his report as well as his apparent insight into his crimes, Judge Aylmer said he was suspending the final nine months of this sentence.
The sentence was backdated to when Bonnes went into prison meaning his release will be “very imminent”, the court was told.
However, Judge Aylmer also ordered that within one week of his release, Bonnes will leave the jurisdiction and not come across the border again for a period of five years.