A Dublin teenager who knocked a woman off her bike, beat her up and stole her groceries said he was so drunk and stoned he had “no idea” what he was doing.
After pleading guilty on Monday, Joseph O’Toole (19) is to be sentenced later at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to give him time to complete an alcohol rehabilitation programme.
The court heard O’Toole and a co-accused beat up and robbed the woman just half an hour after they attacked and robbed a man in his late 60s on the same stretch of road.
O’Toole, with an address at The Nurseries, Mulhuddart, Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery on Church Road on October 19th, 2012.
Garda Alan Gordon told Martina Baxter, prosecuting, that he had been patrolling Church Road, Mulhuddart, with a colleague when they came upon the second attack.
The gardaí saw a man in a white T-shirt coming out from behind a grotto of a holy well, kicking and punching a woman and dragging her along the ground by her rucksack.
As they approached O'Toole, he and a second man took off running and were pursued by the gardaí. O'Toole hid behind a wall before he was arrested after a violent struggle.
Aggressive behaviour
He was brought to Blanchardstown Garda station, where his aggressive behaviour continued and he spat in a g
arda’s face and at another garda’s chest.
The victim, Isabella Szyrajew, told gardaí she had been cycling along Church Road with several shopping bags on the handlebars of her bike when two men approached who seemed to be in good spirits.
One of the men stopped her and said “what’s in your bag?” before grabbing the bike and throwing her to the ground.
She was kicked in the face, head, stomach and back about six times and dragged along the ground by her rucksack before a female passerby stopped to help her.
Ms Szyrajew’s shopping bag with about €50 worth of groceries was taken.
Half an hour before this attack Fred Mulligan had been walking along Church Road when two men approached, one holding a bicycle.
Mr Mulligan said the men stopped short of him and the bike seemed to fall, but they picked it up and walked past. He then felt a bang on the head and he was knocked to the ground.
The men started kicking him and shouting "give me your money," so he gave them €100 which he had in his pocket to pay for insurance. They demanded more,but he told them "lads, I've no more" and when they fled he rang his son.
Initial denial
O'Toole initially denied both attacks. He eventually confessed and said he felt very bad because he thought the second victim was a man. "I had no idea what I was doing I was that drunk."
O’Toole denied hitting Mr Mulligan or asking him for money during the earlier attack, and said he only threatened him with a bicycle lock.
The court heard O’Toole has eight previous convictions including criminal damage, theft and road traffic offences.
Garda Gordon agreed with Anne-Marie Lawlor, defending, that the accused was a “completely different person” under the influence of alcohol.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring adjourned the matter to see if O’Toole could progress his alcohol rehabilitation programme.
The case was listed for mention on July 30th.