By Jessica Magee and Sonya McLean
A woman who hijacked a taxi after using the seat belt to choke the driver, rendering him temporarily unconscious, has been jailed for four and half years.
Donna Dineen (28) then dragged the driver out of the vehicle and punched or kicked him in the face before she drove off in the taxi, a court has heard.
The victim, a man who was then in his late 60s, has not driven a taxi since.
Dineen, previously of Charlemont Terrace, Wellington Road, Cork, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the unlawful seizure of a vehicle and assault causing harm at Phoenix Park, Dublin, on July 26, 2023.
Her co-accused, Gillian Byrne (38), currently living in hostel accommodation, is to be sentenced next year after she pleaded guilty to the unlawful seizure of a vehicle and assault causing harm on the same date.
At a previous hearing, Detective Garda Mark Reilly told the court that Byrne rang 999 immediately afterwards to tell gardaí about the offence and her role in it.
At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Orla Crowe adjourned finalising Byrne’s sentence and ordered a probation report to be prepared for sentencing on February 28 next.
Judge Crowe sentenced Dineen on Wednesday. She said Dineen had been the principal actor and had left the victim “battered and bruised on the ground” before driving off in the man’s taxi.
She said a significant custodial sentence was warranted as it had been “a particularly brutal assault”, and the man had not returned to working as a taxi driver in the aftermath of the attack.
Judge Crowe accepted evidence that Dineen had been working hard on her rehabilitation in prison and that she now has “clear insight” into her offending behaviour.
She imposed a sentence of five years and three months but said she wished to give Dineen a chance of rehabilitation. She suspended the final nine months of the term on strict conditions, including that Dineen remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months.
Det Gda Reilly told Marc Murphy BL, prosecuting, that the taxi driver picked up Dineen and Byrne outside the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street at 5.40 am on the day in question.
The women got into the back of the taxi and directed the driver towards the Phoenix Park.
The driver later told gardaí he got “a bad feeling” after the women directed him towards the magazine fort in the park, and he turned the car around.
The women started shouting at him to stop, and he felt one of them put something around his neck.
Dineen then put a seatbelt around the driver’s neck.
The man told gardaí he pressed the footbrake and was starting to lose consciousness, but that he managed to stumble out of the car in a disorientated state.
He said he was then either punched or kicked in the face by Dineen and fell to the ground.
The victim said he began to shout for help and saw the women starting to panic.
A passerby came to his assistance as did a member of the gardaí who happened to be in the area.
The man was taken by ambulance to hospital, suffering cuts, bruises and minor injuries.
The taxi was found later by gardaí in a different part of Dublin.
The injured party did not wish to make a victim impact statement and told gardaí it would be too traumatic for him to attend court.
Dineen has 67 previous convictions, including robbery, road traffic and criminal damage offences.
Det Gda Reilly agreed with John Moher BL defending Dineen that she spent her life in and out of care homes before becoming homeless at 18 years old. She had started taking cannabis and tablets as a 16-year-old.
He further accepted that she had been in an abusive relationship with someone who was well known to gardaí.
Byrne phoned 999 of her own volition and was arrested, making full admissions and expressing remorse.
She has 12 previous convictions, of which one also involved the unlawful seizure of a vehicle, for which she got a four-year-suspended sentence.
Det Gda Reilly agreed with Mark Lynam SC, defending, that Byrne had a “passive role” in the hijacking and the assault and had not known they were about to happen.
Counsel said Byrne did not know Dineen until that morning and had been of the understanding that they were going to the park to collect a car.
Mr Lynam said his client was very remorseful and horrified by what had happened to the taxi-driver, whom she described as a “lovely man”.
Counsel said Byrne had requested to be sentenced separately to Dineen and that she had allegedly been assaulted by associates of the other woman close to the court.
She is due a baby in April, the court heard.
Counsel said Byrne has a history of drug abuse but is doing quite well at the moment, according to reports from Coolmine Therapeutic Community and other services.
A psychological report outlined that Byrne has borderline cognitive functioning and was described as easily led and eager to please.
The court heard she has had a lot of trauma in her life and would benefit from residential treatment to bolster the work she is doing to tackle her addiction issues.
Byrne wrote a letter to the court expressing her horror at what happened and another letter of apology to the victim himself.
Her current partner also wrote to the court describing her as loving, caring and empathetic.
Counsel said there was an “ongoing threat” to Byrne and that it was “not a good situation” for her to be going into prison, especially while she is expecting a baby.