Pensioner pleads guilty to sabotage of gas supply at community centre

A pensioner has pleaded guilty to sabotaging gas cylinders at a community centre.

Charlie Lynagh from Donegal has been charged with endangering the lives of people when he tampered with the gas supply at Mevagh Parish Hall.

The 73-year-old appeared before Judge John Aylmer at Letterkenny Circuit Court, where he tended a guilty plea. Lynagh spoke only to plead guilty to the charge, relating to an incident on October 22, 2022.

Lynagh is accused of using a knife to cut holes in two high pressure liquefied petroleum gas pipes and then turning on the gas on the attached bottle which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another.

The charge is contrary to Section 13 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

Barrister for Lynagh, Mr Shane Costelloe SC, asked that the matter be adjourned until the June session of the court.

Mr Costelloe described the incident as ‘bizarre’ and requested the preparation of a probation report. The barrister said he is ‘trying to take instruction about what is going on in the background’.

Mr Costelloe said: “He would benefit from a lengthy opportunity to engage with the Probation Service to put a report together about what he considers the backdrop to how he came to commit this offence.”

Lynagh, he added, ‘is not an unblemished character, but this is the most serious offence he has’.

Judge Aylmer directed the preparation of a probation report, to include an assessment of Lynagh’s suitability for community service, and adjourned the matter until the June sitting of Letterkenny Circuit Court.