THREE gardaí underwent blood tests after a man with Hepatitis B and C spat at a perspex screen at Clonakilty Garda Station, a court heard.

A spit hood was placed on his head because saliva was projecting from the man’s mouth and the station had to be closed down for a deep clean of the prisoner processing area and the garda van was required to avoid cross contamination.

Kestutis Slavickas (34) with an address at the Simon Community, Horgan’s Quay, Cork City, contested several charges including obstructing gardaí, being drunk in a public place and using or engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at both the Regal Estate in Skibbereen and at Clonakilty Garda Station on January 16th last.

He pleaded guilty to a criminal damage charge at the garda station.

Gda Joe Maher said he received a call at 3.40pm that day to attend the Regal Estate in Skibbereen following a complaint from a woman there.

The accused was in an apartment and was asked to leave and became aggressive.

‘I waited for my colleagues, Gda Richard Casey and Gda Micheál Houlihan to arrive and we entered the apartment and found three males sitting on a couch drinking beer. She [the woman] was upset and wanted him to leave and he started shouting in Russian,’ said Gda Maher.

‘He became very volatile and aggressive with me and started roaring and shouting, while members of the public were attending a car wash nearby. It was very hard to reason with him as he was very drunk.’

The accused was arrested for public order offences but began shouting at Gda Maher.

‘His saliva landed at my eyes and mouth and his volatile behaviour continued and I was unable to place handcuffs on him. We tried to escort him to the garda van but he pushed against us and refused to get into the van.’

Clonakilty District Court heard it took some time to get him into the van and he continued roaring and shouting, while more saliva landed on Gda Maher’s mouth.On arrival at Clonakilty Garda Station, the accused started shouting at the Gda Joe Grimes, the member in charge.

‘On a number of occasions he spat at the perspex screen at the counter. We were alerted to a warning on the Pulse system that he has Hepatitis B and C so I wore a face mask for added protection as did my colleagues. He was escorted to the cell and continued to be aggressive.’

The court heard that it took five gardaí to deal with him and a spit hood was used over his head. Judge Joanne Carroll was told that the three gardaí went to A&E at the Mercy Hospital for blood tests.

Gda Richard Casey told the court that the accused’s saliva landed on his face, and he told them they would all lose their jobs.Gda Joe Grimes said the accused refused to answer his questions and was frothing at the mouth.

‘He told me to f*** off and spat twice directly at me through the perspex screen. He was too aggressive to be in the custody suite and was taken to a cell. He began banging on the cell door for a period.’

Defence solicitor Conrad Murphy asked why his client wasn’t given an interpreter but Gda Grimes said the accused was well able to roar and shout in English so he didn’t think there was a need.

Gda Grimes also confirmed that the accused didn’t intentionally spit at any garda members and that saliva was just coming from his mouth.

Sgt William O’Sullivan said he requested the cleaning of the prisoner processing area at a cost of almost €600.Mr Kestiukis said he arrived to the Regal Estate on his bike and a party had been taking place there for three days. He told the court he wasn’t drunk and remembered everything. He admitted spitting at the perspex screen.

The court heard he had 33 previous convictions including three for assault. Mr Murphy said his client is from Lithuania and is a qualified mechanic and inventor. He said Mr Slavickas has been living in Ireland for 21 years and is taking medication for mental health issues.

Judge Carroll convicted him on all charges handing down two three-month prison terms to run concurrently and backdated to when he was first taken into custody.

The judge also sentenced him to three months in prison for threatening, abusive words or behaviour but suspended it for three months. She took into consideration the criminal damage charge and set recognisances of €100 in the event of an appeal.