A man who discharged 37 shotgun rounds in the direction of gardaí to provoke them into killing him has been jailed.

Patrick Kinch (48) later told gardaí he wanted to "go out in a blaze of glory" but believed he would not go to heaven if he killed himself.

Kinch, of Deerpark Square, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to endangering gardaí by firing at them with a stolen sawn-off shotgun during a siege that lasted almost 15 hours.

Judge Martin Nolan suspended the final three-and-a-half years of a 10-year prison term. Kinch also pleaded guilty to damaging the house where the siege took place and to causing more than €7,000 worth of damage to a Garda vehicle.

Garda Rory Maher told the court that the incident happened in the early hours of December 20, 2015.

Fled

Natasha Donnelly, Kinch's partner at the time, witnessed Kinch behaving erratically in the house they shared on Deerpark Square. He said Ms Donnelly thought Kinch had been drinking and had taken valium. She fled the house with her children.

He said that Ms Donnelly was told by Kinch she could get the gardaí but to "tell them to bring a body bag".

Ms Donnelly drove to Tallaght garda station and alerted gardaí.

Gda Maher said armed members of the Emergency Response Unit approached the house behind a ballistic vehicle. He told the court that two shots were fired from the window at 5am.

Further shots were fired over the next several hours while Kinch demanded gardaí shoot him.

"Death is natural" and "we all have to die, come on, take a headshot" were among the things Kinch shouted at the gardaí, according to Gda Maher.

Gda Maher said that at about 2pm Kinch leaned out a downstairs window, pointed the shotgun at gardaí and fired. The shot hit a fence and while two gardaí were struck with rebounded material, neither was injured.

He said gardaí observed Kinch put the shotgun barrels under his chin. Kinch eventually threw the unloaded shotgun out the window and was arrested shortly after.

"I saw all of you and said f**k it, I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory," Kinch said while interviewed by gardaí, according to Gda Maher.

Judge Nolan commended the actions of gardaí, stating they "displayed huge restraint and professionalism in their dealing with Kinch".

Irish Independent