Man jailed for two and a half years over theft and garda scuffle

By Claire Henry

A man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in an early morning assault and theft of a shift worker and a later scuffle with a garda.

Shane Ginty (30) of Loretto Hall, Peter McVerry Trust, St Stephen’s Green pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and one count of theft at O’Connell Street, Dublin, on January 31, 2023.

He has 65 previous convictions.

Passing sentence today, Judge Orla Crowe said,“This must have been very distressing for the injured party, who is a non-national in this country.”

Judge Crowe noted Ginty’s previous convictions, some of which are very relevant to this offence.

She also noted that Ginty was on a suspended sentence at the time of this offence.

The judge said, “These matters have to be punished”, and set a headline sentence of four years.

She outlined the mitigating factors of Ginty’s early guilty plea, his remorse and that he has been using his time in custody well.

Judge Crowe sentenced Ginty to three years in prison, backdated to when he went into custody on this matter. In order to incentivise rehabilitation, Judge Crowe suspended the final six months for two years.

She also placed him under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months post-release.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that at 5.30 am on January 31, 2023, a man finished work and travelled by bus to Dublin city centre.

He got off the bus at O’Connell Street and went to a nearby ATM machine.

He made two withdrawals totalling €400.

The man was approached by two men, and he was knocked to the ground and hit in the chest twice.

His money and ATM card was taken.

Garda Alan Sexton told George Burns, BL, prosecuting, that he was on mobile patrol at the time and witnessed the injured party being knocked to the ground.

Gda Sexton left his patrol car and chased one of the two men, who was later identified as Ginty.

Gda Sexton said Ginty was seen throwing something away as he ran.

During his arrest, a scuffle took place, and Ginty elbowed Gda Sexton in the throat.

He was brought to Store Street Garda Station.

The court heard that the injured party’s money was not recovered, and his mobile phone was also damaged.

A victim impact statement was handed into the court, which said, “I will now only use ATMs in shops or in banks, and I won’t use them on the street”.

The injured man said: “I didn’t expect anything like this to happen to me in Ireland.”

The court heard that Ginty’s mother had a sum of €400 as a token of remorse to the injured party.

Gda Sexton agreed with Keith Spencer, BL, defending, that the injury he sustained was from Ginty trying to get away rather than trying to injure him on purpose.

The garda agreed with counsel that many of the 65 previous convictions were from the juvenile court.

Mr Spencer said his client had a long-standing drug addiction in the past and began using cannabis and ecstasy at the age of 12 and progressed to using cocaine at a later stage.

Counsel said his client was homeless at the time of the offence, and the money he stole was a bid to get drugs.

Mr Spencer said that his client was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and when he didn’t take his medication, his behaviour worsened.

He said his client had succumbed to an intense drug addiction, and a death in his family also led him down a path of self-destruction.

He asked the court to be as lenient as possible and to backdate the sentence from when he went into custody on this matter.