Martin Donnellan, Garda Síochána

Detective Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

17179D and recipient of the Scott Medal, born 1948. Donnellan was born at Ballymoe,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, on 7 June 1948. He had been a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

maker prior to joining the force.

Stillorgan bank raid

Donnellan was one of six Gardaí awarded the Scott Medal in recognition of their actions on 30 December 1980. Four heavily armed men robbed a bank at Stillorgan Shopping Centre,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, escaping to a

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

, driven by a fifth man, with £102,000. Off-duty Gardaí Keeley made an effort to note the van's registration but was fired upon. He returned fire. With most of south Dublin's mobile units in pursuit, the high-speed chase ''"ended dramatically at Carrickmines Cross."''

''"The raiders, realizing that their aged van was never going to outdistance the powerful Garda patrol car, stopped out of sight of the pursuing detectives aly and Curranand set up a hastily-prepared ambush. Their car was savagely raked with bullets and both men severely injured. The robbers then continued in their flight."''

Abandoning the van and hi-jacking a car, they made their way into the Dublin Mountains where they crashed the car. As they hijacked another car, they were discovered by Detective Doyle, who was joined by Donnellan and Brennan.

''"Realizing that the raiders could scarcely head back towards Dublin, the three detectives used their cars to block the narrow road. The robbers in their stolen
Datsun Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunch ...
appeared within seconds and stopped a few yards from the improvised roadblock. The three detectives took cover, Doyle pointing his pistol while Donnellan and Brennan pointed cupped hands to give the impression that they were also armed. Panic now seized the raiders. In a frenzied attempt to reverse out of the situation they slid into a drain and overturned. They then tried to escape on foot as the intrepid detectives closed in, Doyle firing first a warning shot over the raiders' heads and firing again when it seemed that fire might be returned. One raider was wounded and two others then gave up the struggle. The remaining two made good their escape."''

Donnellan and his colleague, Kieran Brennan, were awarded the Scott Medal at Templemore in 1982, sharing the ceremony with the widows of three Gardaí killed in action - John Morley, Henry Burns, and Seamus Quaid (see Deaths of Garda officers (1980). On his retirement he described the event as " .. chilling. It was stressful looking at those families. I remember in particular Henry Burns' kids were so small. It really brought it home to me. It was lovely to be honoured, but it was even better to be in the good health to receive it. It is a very thin line between life and death, and that's the one thing about the gardai, there is no group in the country that has paid as big a price."

Later career

While later working as a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads t ...

superintendent, Donnellan led the investigation into the murder of 17-year-old

Raonaid Murray Raonaid Murray (6 January 1982 – 4 September 1999) was an Irish language, Irish murder victim, stabbed to death at the age of 17 in the early hours of 4 September 1999. , this case remains unsolved. The murder weapon has not been located either ...

in Glenageary (her killer has never been found) and worked on case of

Annie McCarrick Annie Bridget McCarrick (born March 21, 1966) is an American woman from Long Island, New York who went missing under suspicious circumstances on March 26, 1993, while she was residing in Ireland. Background McCarrick was born on Long Island, ...

, who disappeared without trace in 1993. He aided the investigation into the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in Beirut. He retired in summer 2008.

External links

* http://www.herald.ie/opinion/bravery-honour-and-tragedy-of-a-career-spent-in-line-of-fire-1451775.html

References

* ''An Garda Síochána and the Scott Medal'', p. 105, Gerard O'Brien,

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably t ...

, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnellan, Martin People from County Galway Garda Síochána officers Living people 1948 births Recipients of the Scott Medal

Stillorgan bank raid

Later career

See also

External links

References