'Hit team' member jailed after confrontation with armed gardai

A member of an organised crime group has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court following his guilty plea to firearm offences. Owen Cummins, aged 41, from St Attracta Road, Cabra, Dublin, was convicted of possessing a Beretta handgun and silencer at Jamestown Road, Inchicore on 6 September 2017. The court heard that gardai, acting on intelligence of a planned attack in Ballyfermot, intercepted a van near Drumcliff Road, Cabra. After a pursuit, Cummins drove a jeep directly at Garda Stephen Gillespie, who was restraining a second suspect on the ground. Fearing for his life, Garda Gillespie discharged his firearm, causing the jeep to veer and collide with a parked vehicle. The three-judge court, presiding over by Mr Justice Hunt, imposed a headline sentence of twelve years, reduced to nine years and six months due to mitigating circumstances including Cummins' guilty plea. The final eighteen months were suspended. The sentence was backdated to May 2019.