NZ couple: We saw man put fist through €10m painting
The jury have also heard from security staff and a paramedic at the scene.
The accused told witnesses he was faint after the incident, complained of chest pain and said he had fallen against the painting.
Andrew Shannon, 50, of Willians Way, Ongar, Dublin 15, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to damaging the painting entitled ‘Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sail Boat’ (1874) at the National Gallery of Ireland on Clare Street on June 29, 2012. He further pleaded not guilty to damaging two Felim Egan paintings — ‘Morning Strand’ and ‘Evening Strand’ at the Shelbourne Hotel on January 8, 2014.
Michael Kelly Williams told Kerida Naidoo BL, prosecuting that he and his wife, Toni Ashton, were on holidays in Ireland.
He said he was standing looking at a painting when to his right hand side he saw a man put his clenched fist into the middle of the Monet painting.
He said he grabbed the man, who said something like he felt faint, and moved him into the middle of the room to get him away from the paintings.
He said that in his work as a flight attendant he had treated people feeling faint before and on the basis of his experience he did not believe the accused was feeling faint.
Michael Bowman, defending, said that within 12 months of the incident Mr Shannon had undergone open heart surgery and a quadruple by-pass.
Paramedic Gordon McArdle said he asked Mr Shannon what was in his bag and found he had a tin of paint stripper. He ran a series of tests in the ambulance and overall found him to be quite stable.
He said he administered aspirin and GTN spray as he was complaining of chest pains.
The trial continues.
