AN UNSUCCESSFUL ELECTION candidate denied being threatening to a Garda sergeant following a rally in Dublin and claimed he was punched during his arrest and only had a knife purely to cut down posters.

Irish Freedom Party activist Paul Fitzsimons, 56, from Grange Road, Baldoyle, is charged with unlawful possession of a knife as a weapon, failing to comply with garda directions and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in an incident at Talbot Street in Dublin city centre on February 5 this year.

The podcaster has pleaded not guilty at Dublin District Court, where Judge Patricia Cronin has not yet rendered her verdict. She said she intended to rewatch video evidence recorded on Fitzsimons’s phone and shown during his hearing.

The case resumes in the new year.

In evidence, Fitzsimons recalled today that he was part of a rally that marched from the Garden of Remembrance along O’Connell Street to the Custom House, where he addressed a massive crowd.

He said he told other marchers to keep moving in response to being confronted by counter-demonstrators.

Hundreds of gardaí were in the area acting as a “buffer” between the two factions, the court heard.

He said he was taking down posters after the gathering, so he had the pen knife or lock knife with two blades, one of which was retractable like a Stanley blade. He bought it in a Woodies store and only had it for cutting cable ties used to hang posters. Otherwise, it was kept in a zipped pocket, he said.

Afterwards, he was making his way to his car and stopped at Talbot Street, where gardaí, including a superintendent, were present.

An opposing group had passed through there about 15 minutes before he arrived.
He said Sergeant Jones appeared over his shoulder and told him to leave, citing section eight of the Public Order Act. The accused admitted cursing and claimed the garda punched him three times in the back before arresting him.

He testified that he had been complying with the caution to leave and was walking away irate at being “singled out” from other people at the scene.

Fitzsimons agreed with the defence solicitor Lorraine Stephens that he thought the garda sergeant was interfering with his right to protest.

He admitted he told the garda sergeant to fuck off five times but denied being threatening or that there could have been a flare-up. However, when cross-examined, he apologised for cursing.

It was put to him that he could have used wire snips to cut cables, but he said that he had kept the knife in his bag and “I would not take it out against anyone.”

The sergeant refuted the claim that he punched the accused and said he had escorted him onto the footpath. He also pointed out Fitzsimons did not mention being punched in his “commentary” in the video evidence recorded on his phone.

Accused of being threatening by telling the sergeant, “Take off your uniform”, the accused agreed he made that remark but said it was after the officer had told him that he could handle himself.

Following his arrest, he was taken to Mountjoy Garda Station, where the knife was found on him.

The defence solicitor argued that her client had mounted a lawful defence to the knife possession charge by his explanation about cutting cable ties. She also submitted that he should be acquitted of all the charges.