A FATHER-to-be who headbutted a garda in a "disgraceful attack" during a drugs search has been warned he will be jailed if he does not pay €200 compensation.

Ifeanyi Okoh (42) struck the garda while throwing away a package in the street.

Judge Anthony Halpin adjourned sentencing.

Okoh, with an address at Caulfield's Hotel, Lower Dorset Street, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, assaulting a garda and obstruction under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Dublin District Court heard the offences happened at Gardiner Place on August 17, 2014.

The accused spat an object from his mouth and struck the garda with a headbutt, while taking a small package from his back pocket and throwing it to the ground.

"Is that the way they treat the police in Nigeria?" the judge asked. "If a policeman asks you something, you headbutt them?"

The accused was ashamed and "sincerely apologetic" for what happened, his barrister Edel Gilligan said.

The court heard the defendant's girlfriend was expecting their first child in August.

"It was a disgraceful attack on [the garda]," Judge Halpin said. "He is facing a custodial sentence unless he pays €200 to the court by way of redress."

The judge said if he did not have the money within eight weeks, he would jail the defendant. He said he wanted to hear "no excuses".

"That was a vicious assault," he added.

Online Editors