“Strung out” young man jailed for violent disorder

By Claire Henry

A young man who was “strung out” when he carried out a violent disorder in Dublin City will remain in prison for a further two years, a court has ordered.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Sean O’Neill (22) previously of Carton Court, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of violent disorder at Ashton Quay on October 4, 2023, and to one count of robbery on September 19, 2023.

He has 39 previous convictions, which include convictions for criminal damage, failure to appear, theft, production of an article and drug offences.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan said, “The video footage before the court is very vivid, and the injured man can be seen on the ground with a number of people standing over him stealing from him.”

Judge Nolan said the mitigation in this case was O’Neill’s guilty plea and his admissions.

The judge said he must take into account that the accused is still very young and doing well in prison.

Judge Nolan said that this man “deserved a prison sentence” and set a global sentence of four years. He backdated this sentence to when the accused went into custody one year ago and suspended the final year of the sentence for one year.

Detective Garda Cathy Giblin told Tessa White, BL, prosecuting, gardaí had been tasked with investigating a robbery the night before September 19, 2023.

He said a man was withdrawing a sum of €700 from an ATM when he was attacked from behind by two men. CCTV of the robbery was used to identify O’Neill.

The court heard that the following day, a warrant was issued and O’Neill was arrested. During interview, he told gardaí that he could not remember “doing it” and that he “was strung out”. He did identify himself on the CCTV footage.

Det Gda Giblin said two weeks later, gardaí responded to a violent disorder incident in the Aston Quay area of Dublin. When gardaí arrived at Aston Quay, they saw O’Neill and took note of what he was wearing. They then went to a nearby hotel and found an injured man whose face was covered in blood.

The injured man told gardaí that he saw an altercation between a man and woman and got involved. He said he was hit in the face. He was brought back to his hotel by a passerby, and then he began to get notifications on his phone of unusual activity on his bank cards. The man then realised that both his wallet and a watch, which he estimated cost £9,000, had been taken.

The court heard that gardaí watched CCTV footage from the Aston Quay area and noted that one of the men involved was wearing the same clothes that O’Neill had been seen wearing earlier. Gardaí then returned to the area where O’Neill was arrested. Upon his arrest, he said, “I only assaulted him.” He identified himself on the CCTV footage.

Both injured parties declined to make a victim impact statement.

Det Gda Giblin agreed with Patrick McCarthy BL, defending, that a significant amount of his client’s previous convictions were from the children’s court. He also agreed that O’Neill had been homeless from a young age and had developed drug issues.

The garda agreed with counsel that O’Neill made admissions during his interviews and the guilty pleas were beneficial to gardaí.

Mr McCarthy said his client had a difficult teenage life and developed a drug issue when he became homeless.

Counsel said his client understands that these charges are serious and accepts his role in the offending.

Mr McCarthy handed a letter of apology to the court from O’Neill, which he said shows that his client has insight into his offending and a genuine aspiration to be a good partner and father to his partner’s child.

He asked the court to consider suspending part of the sentence in order to help with rehabilitation and outlined that his client has employment available to him upon his release.