A woman was left dangling half way out of a moving getaway car after she chased down the man who had snatched her wallet, a court has heard.
Tony Carrick (41) was given a partially suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he admitted robbing Aoife O'Reilly as she was standing in line for a coffee at a petrol station in Finglas, north Dublin.
After asking her for the time Carrick grabbed her wallet and fled to a car. Ms O’Reilly pursued and ended up half in and half out of the vehicle. Both Carrick and the driver shouted at her to “get out or I’ll f**king kill you” and Carrick punched her in the head.
The driver drove 200 yards while Ms O’Reilly’s legs were dangling outside of the car. Carrick told her that if she got out of the car he would throw her the wallet, but the driver pushed her out and drove away.
Carrick of Knowth Court, Poppintree, Dublin pleaded guilty to robbery and endangerment on December 13th, 2016.
Carrick is already serving a five and a half year jail term for burglaries and an attempted car-jacking. On Friday Judge Karen O’Connor directed that the sentence for these latest crimes run consecutive to this sentence, as Carrick was out on bail for the earlier crimes when he offended again.
This brings Carrick’s total sentence to eight years for all matters. Judge O’Connor suspended the final two and a half years from the total sentence of eight years. She backdated the sentence to December 2016 when Carrick went into custody.
Nightmares
Carrick also admitted a second robbery at another filling station on the same day in which he only managed to make off with an apron.
Detective Sergeant Shane McCartan told Sinead McMullan BL, prosecuting, that Barbara Macken was starting work at Topaz in The Ward, Dublin, when she was approached by Carrick.
Carrick again asked for the time and then attempted to grab her handbag but only succeeded in taking her apron. When he realised this he threw it down before jumping into the same car as was used in the earlier robbery.
The court heard the driver, who was involved in both incidents, is now deceased.
Carrick’s 110 previous convictions include assault, criminal damage, burglary, endangerment, robbery and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Det Sgt McCartan agreed with Luigi Rea BL, defending, that Carrick was in a drug induced state at the time of the incidents. Mr Rea remarked that his client had been using crack cocaine which “drives people a little bit crazy, people say”.
Mr Rea said that Carrick was seeking treatment for his addictions. He handed into the court a two-page letter of apology written by his client.
Judge O’Connor described the incidents as “horrendous behaviour”. She noted that Ms O’Reilly has recurring nightmares, suffers panic attacks in crowded places and has lost confidence.
She further noted that Ms O’Reilly had stated that she is unlikely to help strangers as a result of feeling unsafe.
The judge accepted that Carrick has poor cognitive functioning, has a significant history of substance abuse and institutional abuse and that he had entered an early plea.