Man charged over sinister threat to kill Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald

Gardai have charged a man in connection with the sinister video threat to kill Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald. The man (28) was station charged this evening and is due to appear in court on Friday morning.

In a statement gardai said: “The man (20s) arrested at a residence in South Dublin this morning as part of an investigation into threats made online against a public representative and a Senior Garda Officer has now been charged.

“He has been charged under Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 at a Garda Station in Dublin. He is due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) tomorrow morning, Friday 19th of July 2024 at 10:30am.

“As this matter is now before the courts, An Garda Síochána has no further comment.

READ MORE: Man arrested over chilling threats to kill Mary Lou McDonald and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris

Officers from the Special Detective Unit arrested the man at a property in Rathfarnham, South Co Dublin on Thursday morning.

By Thursday afternoon officers extended his period of detention and continued to quiz him over a disturbing video in which a masked man, wearing a homemade balaclava, threatens to personally shoot Ms McDonald and urges others to cut the throat of the Garda Commissioner.

Sources say officers searched the property in Rathfarnham and are quizzing the man over a series of videos appeared on a publicly available ‘TikTok’ social media account. In some of the videos a man is wearing the balaclava, while in others a man's face is clearly visible.

In another sinister video a man makes threats about and encourages people to petrol bomb the homes of members of An Garda Siochana. The social media page has since been deleted - but detectives are understood to have secured the footage.

A shocking video which had been widely shared online sparked Deputy McDonald to make a formal complaint to gardai on Wednesday.

Gardai have since confirmed an investigation into the allegations.Taking to social media, Mary Lou McDonald spoke of her serious concern about the threat.“Last night a threat to kill me was issued online. The individual said he would shoot me dead. This represents an escalation of targeted online abuse directed at me over the last year. It is totally unacceptable. I have reported this to An Garda Síochána.“Ironically, this threat was made while I was hosting a discussion on the need for zero tolerance when it comes to violence against women and girls,” she said.In a subsequent interview on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Ms McDonald said the threat had been “blatant and blunt.”It represented “an escalation on what has been a really relentless campaign over the last 12 months or so of abuse of a misogynistic, sometimes a racist nature, really piled on against me in a very concentrated and coordinated way.“I'm all for freedom of expression. I do not believe in censorship. I am also not somebody who is touchy or sensitive about criticism and commentary that comes with being a public figure, but I do not accept, and I will not accept threats against my life, or anybody else's. It is utterly unacceptable. And it is sinister. And I have reported the matter to An Garda Síochána. I expect them to deal with it appropriately,” she said.The threat did not relate to any specific issue, she said, but said it was part of a trend over the past year from a “very organised section of people online to have a run at Sinn Féin and at me in particular.“I think the objective of the exercise has been to cast doubt or alienate or disrupt the relationship between myself and Sinn Féin and those that would support us, rely on us to represent them and it's been pretty relentless. If you visit any of my social media platforms you would see that. But last night, that escalated to a direct threat to take my life. And I'm shocked by this, to be honest with you. And as I say, I've placed it now in the hands of An Garda Síochána.“The same individual made a threat against a senior member of An Garda this year, that to me, is completely unacceptable. And I expect that that matter will be dealt with as well.”Ms McDonald's comments come after former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar revealed there were times when he was fearful for his own safety.Speaking after this paper exclusively revealed this week that there was a sinister and very real threat to Mr Varadkar’s life back in 2022, the former Taoiseach said:“On the night of the Dublin riots, I was advised not to go home and I didn’t. I stayed somewhere else. But I never let that bother me. One thing I would have asked the gardaí was not to advise me or give me too much information about security threats unless I really needed to know for some reason.“I didn’t want to be distracted by potential security threats or always looking over my shoulder, so I asked that they not give me detailed briefings unless there was some particular reason to do so, and I think that’s probably the right decision. I think I was very fortunate that I was able to lead a relatively normal life during my time as taoiseach and in politics. Now I want to lead a very normal life, and I’m kind of grateful for that.“I’ve spoken to people who are heads of government in other countries, or people who are senior politicians in other countries, and some of them can’t even go to a restaurant because they have to shut down the whole restaurant or the block. Some of them can’t go to the shops, can’t go to the cinema and really do live in a security bubble.“I’m really grateful that wasn’t the case for me, and largely isn’t the case for in Ireland yet, like of course there are security threats to politicians, but it’s still a relatively safe country.”

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