By Jessica Magee
A teenager has been jailed after he pushed an older man off his mobility scooter “for fun”, fracturing the man’s hand and snapping his dentures in two.
The man in his sixties had been standing outside a Centra shop in Dublin city centre smoking a cigarette when Elliot Toale, now aged 18, took his mobility scooter away from him and rolled around on it for a short time.
Toale, who was with three other youths, then gave the man back his scooter but pushed him hard from behind, causing the man to fall heavily on his face and hand.
When a Scottish tourist intervened to help the injured man, Toale stole a large kitchen knife from Centra and ran down the street shouting at the tourist and brandishing the knife at head height.
Toale, with an address at St Michan’s House, Greek Street, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in his sixties and causing him harm on Capel Street on February 11 last year.
He also admitted stealing a kitchen knife from Centra and production of the knife on the same occasion.
At a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan said Toale had run out of chances and warned that his prison terms would get longer and longer if he did not reform in custody.
Judge Nolan sentenced Toale to two years in prison but suspended the final 16 months by reason of his young age.
“This injured party was minding his own business when other parties decided to have fun at his expense,” said the judge, adding that the victim had sustained reasonably serious injuries in a very upsetting incident.
Toale has 23 previous convictions, mostly from the Children’s Court, including several for selling drugs and others for threatening and abusive behaviour.
He was on bail at the time of these offences.
Detective Garda Craig Law told Jane Murphy BL, prosecuting, that Toale could not remember much of the incident and said he had taken cocaine and alcohol on the night.
Gda Law said he was on patrol on the night when he saw the injured man with injuries to his face and hand after he was assaulted in a completely unprovoked attack.
Gardaí called the ambulance for the injured man, who was taken to the hospital where it was found he had broken part of his left hand. His fingers were also damaged, his nose was bleeding, and his dentures had been snapped in two, the court heard.
Toale was arrested and made admissions, agreeing that he would be upset if something like that had happened to a member of his family.
When gardaí asked if he was sorry, Toale replied, “Yeah, I suppose I would be.”
Mebh McDonagh BL, defending, said Toale lives at home with his mother and disabled sister and is a huge help to them both.
The court heard Toale’s father had been serving a prison sentence at the time and that Toale found it difficult to cope with this and was self-medicating with drink and drugs.