A drug addict who stabbed a 13 year-old boy in the chest after breaking into his Dublin home in the early hours of the morning has been jailed for six years.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the boy told gardai he was covered in his own blood and thought he would be killed by the burglar who forced him out of bed to look for cash and jewellery.
Laurence Harvey (31) of Kippure Park, Finglas, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and assault causing harm to the 13 year-old boy at an address in Finglas on March 13th, 2005.
Judge Desmond Hogan suspended the final year of the sentence and said "gratuitous violence" had been used by the defendant.
Harvey broke into the house through the boy's bedroom window. The boy told gardai that he woke to find "a fella jabbing me with a knife. He jabbed at me a few times. I can remember being stabbed into the chest".
The boy suffered a one and a half centimetre wound to his chest and cuts to his hand and face. He was later treated in hospital for his injuries. In a statement he said "my chest was bleeding, I was covered in blood. I was in a daze and thought he was going to kill me".
Harvey threatened to cut the boy's head off and forced him to go downstairs.
Harvey ransacked the house taking a stereo, mp3 player, mobile phones and cigarettes. "I'm an addict, I need gear," he told the boy.
Harvey went back upstairs, crept into the boys' father's bedroom and he went through his trousers taking a wallet containing €300 before leaving the house.
Gardai arrested Harvey some time later. He has 16 previous convictions for drugs, larceny, forgery and road traffic offences.