‘Frightening’ - man seen running down Kilkenny High Street with hatchet

A man who ‘ran down High Street in Kilkenny City with a hatchet’ has been jailed.

Kilkenny District Court heard how the man’s actions “would have been quite frightening” for onlookers in Kilkenny city centre.

Paul Delaney, 149 Roberts Hill, Kilkenny pleaded guilty to a charge of being in possession of knives or other articles on April 23, 2024.

He also entered a guilty plea to a charge of failing to comply with the directions of a garda, on June 18, 2025.

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The first incident occurred at approximately 11.45am on April 23, 2024. Sergeant Morgan O’Connor told the court that gardaí received a report of a fight on High Street and a male in a baseball cap running towards it with a hatchet in his hand.

Gardaí viewed CCTV and identified Mr Delaney. He was seen taking the hatchet from a shop and running up the street.

When gardaí arrived at the scene members of the public told them they saw a man running down the street with a hatchet.

When he got there the incident was over and a female took the hatchet off him.

Solicitor Ed Hughes said CCTV from the shop showed Mr Delaney had been purchasing the hatchet in a shop. He had it on the counter when someone ran in to tell him there was an incident occurring with his brother. He ran out of the shop with the hatchet.

Sergeant O’Connor said that on June 8 last gardaí were called to Priory Square. It was reported that Mr Delaney was causing a disturbance.

He was instructed to leave the area. He left briefly but then returned before he was arrested for failing to comply with the instructions of a garda.

Heart stopped
Mr Hughes said that the night before this incident Mr Delaney had been in St Luke’s hospital where his heart had stopped and had to be restarted. He blamed the medication he was on after that for the way he acted.

Mr Delaney ‘should have been at home in bed’ recovering, the solicitor said.

Sergeant O’Connor said Mr Delaney had 64 previous convictions.

In relation to the hatchet incident, Mr Hughes said his client had been going through a good time but there were ‘issues’ with his brother.

Mr Delaney was in a shop ‘lawfully buying’ the hatchet for his mother, who was waiting for him in the car. His partner at the time shouted in at him about the other incident and Mr Delaney made a ‘snap decision’ and ran down the street.

His partner later returned the hatchet to the shop in a saleable condition.

Mr Hughes said his client understood the people of Kilkenny were frightened by what they saw. He was acting to protect his brother.

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The solicitor said a lot of Mr Delaney’s more serious offences took place when his brother was out of custody. He would have a negative impact on him.

Mr Delaney ‘goes on and off the wagon frequently’ Mr Hughes told the court, adding that he is off it at the moment. Mr Delaney is engaging with the services and seeking residential treatment, the solicitor said.

Mr Delaney was also in court on the matter of the activation of a previously suspended sentence.
Judge Geraldine Carthy noted a sentence of nine months imprisonment was handed down to Mr Delaney in July 2023 and suspended for two years. By committing offences in that time he breached the terms of the suspension. She activated that sentence.

The judge said Mr Delaney had denied the charge of being in possession of a knife or other offensive weapon and it had taken a number of court dates to finalise the case.

It was ‘quite a serious matter,’ the judge said, and no doubt any person on High Street would have been quite frightened.
She convicted Mr Delaney and imposed a prison sentence of eight months, to run consecutively to the reactivated sentence.
On the charge of failing to comply with garda directions a jail sentence of four months was imposed, to also run consecutively.