A DUBLIN MAN who bought a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone “for a bit of fun” on holidays has received a one-year suspended sentence for its unlawful possession.

Gardaí had been searching the home of Patrick McDonagh (27) on a matter unrelated to him when they found the mobile phone shaped gun.

Garda forensics later identified it as a stun gun and the case was brought before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

McDonagh, of Oldcastle Drive, Ban Og, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a stun gun on 28 November 2014. He has no previous convictions.

Garda Brian Hunt told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that he had found what looked like a small silver mobile phone at the bottom of a wardrobe.

The device had a switch on it and he and colleagues decided it might be “some sort of a stun gun”.

Gda Hunt said he accepted McDonagh had bought it “for a bit of fun” while on holidays in Cyprus and had never used it.

Judge Nolan told McDonagh’s defence counsel, Luigi Rea BL, that he didn’t need to hear any plea of mitigation in this case.

The judge said he accepted McDonagh bought it for fun but didn’t have a license for it.

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