Man with gun watching Love/Hate jailed for two years

A man caught with a Glock pistol, while watching a Love/Hate episode about how to clean a gun, has been jailed for two years.

Sammy O’Flaherty pleaded guilty to possession of the gun and 16 rounds of ammunition at his flat on Henry Street, Limerick, on October 27th, 2012.

He also pleaded guilty to having cannabis and cocaine for sale and supply.

Before jailing the 39-year-old at Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said the gun was an "aggravating factor" in the case.

Judge Moran said Mr O’Flaherty’s case had already attracted “some degree of notoriety” because of the DVD he was watching when gardaí arrived.

In his interview with gardaí, he said he had watched Love/Hate and videos online to learn how to assemble, strip and clean the gun.

Det Garda David Baynham told the court he was monitoring O’Flaherty’s address for suspected drug activity when the accused and another man left to go to an off-licence.

“There is an opening sequence [in Love/Hate] where a Glock firearm is stripped,” Det Baynham told the court, “and that extract was on the laptop when we entered the property.”

At a previous court hearing defence counsel Mark Nicholas told the judge that watching a mainstream TV show to learn how to handle a gun was hardly the mark of an experienced gunman.

The court heard O’Flaherty was storing the gun for two weeks for “sinister elements” in return for having €500 taken off his drug debt.

His brother Peter O’Flaherty (35), of College Avenue, Moyross, Limerick, also pleaded guilty to possession of the Glock and ammunition but the prosecution accepted his role was much smaller and he was acting out of “a misguided sense of loyalty” to his older brother. He was given a four-year suspended sentence.