By David O’Sullivan
A ‘menace to society’ who robbed and assaulted a tourist in Temple Bar hours after they had arrived in Ireland has been jailed for four years and nine months.
Glen Duff (36), of Doon Court, Poppintree, Dublin 11, appeared before Judge Martin Nolan in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court having pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of assault causing harm in Temple Bar on two separate dates.
Garda Seamus Egan told Sinéad McMullan BL, prosecuting, that Duff was involved in a robbery in Temple Bar on April 17, 2022.
The injured party was socialising in Temple Bar at around half past one o’clock in the morning when a woman approached him and began speaking with him.
CCTV footage played to the court then showed Duff and another man approaching the injured party from behind.
One of the men kicked him in the head, before they wrestled the injured party to the ground.
They kicked and stomped on his head before pulling his wallet, containing €300, from his hand.
The man attended hospital with concussion symptoms and said in a victim impact statement handed in to the court that he still has difficulties with his memory and concentration.
The man said he never recovered the money that was stolen and has been trying as much as he can to put the event out of his mind.
Duff was well known to gardai and was identified through the CCTV which captured the incident.
He was charged on May 22, 2023.
Garda Paul Cummings told Ms McMullan that Duff was involved in another robbery along with an assault causing harm while he was on bail for that incident.
Duff robbed an American tourist who had just arrived in Ireland hours beforehand in Temple Bar on June 23, 2023.
The man left a pub just after midnight and was sitting on the street alone when a woman approached him.
She spoke to him for a few moments, before Duff and another man approached.
They attacked the tourist and knocked him unconscious.
CCTV footage showed them going through his pockets.
At one point the man regained consciousness, and they recommenced their attack.
The robbers took the man’s wallet which had his passport and driving license inside.
Duff was again identified through CCTV footage.
He was charged, arrested and pleaded guilty to the charges on November 6, 2023.
In a victim impact statement handed in to the court, the man said he was afraid to go to hospital because he thought he would have to pay a large medical expense.
He described it as a “terrible start to his vacation” and said the attack left him with a broken finger.
The court heard the mugging “left him looking over his shoulder for the remainder of his time in Dublin” and that he was depressed and frustrated afterwards.
Colm Hennessy BL, defending, said both incidents were “clearly very serious” and that his client had “preyed upon” the injured parties.
He described Duff as somebody who has suffered from a serious drug addiction for a number of years.
Mr Hennessy said that at the time of the offending, Duff’s addiction was so severe that it wouldn’t be unusual for him to go eight days without sleeping and that he had been using crack cocaine, heroin and “anything he could get his hands on”.
He said his client is currently drug free and making steps to rehabilitate himself from his drug addiction whilst in custody.
Duff has previous convictions for assault, assault causing harm, robbery, blackmail, extortion, criminal damage, failure to appear, failure to comply with gardai, possession of drugs, possession of knives and theft.
In sentencing, Judge Nolan, described the incidents as “serious robberies involving violence”.
“Mr Duff doesn’t mind using violence against vulnerable people,” he noted.
Mitigating factors included Duff’s plea of guilty, his attempts to deal with his addiction issues and his behaviour whilst in custody.
“I hope he changes his life and that he will no longer be a menace to society, which he has been up until now,” said the judge, before sentencing him to six years ‘imprisonment.
He suspended the final 15 months on strict conditions “to aid his rehabilitation and his return to society.”