Ballyfermot man jailed for attacking graveyard flower seller

By Niamh O’Donoghue

A “danger to society”, who was spending €600 a week on drugs, has been jailed for a further two years for headbutting a graveyard flower seller.

Alan Melia (31) of Cherry Orchard Avenue, Ballyfermot pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm on December 15, 2020.

Melia, who was on bail at the time of the offence, has 113 previous convictions and is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for a robbery in 2020, the court heard.

Detective Garda Jack Walsh told the court the injured party was selling flowers at Palmerstown Cemetery as he had done for 40 years without incident when two men approached him.

He told Emer Delargy BL, prosecuting, that Melia’s co-accused asked the seller for a number of bunches of flowers for six euro and he said he would rob him if he didn’t give them to him. The court heard the co-accused was unidentifiable.

Melia headbutted the injured party as he turned to leave and the force caused his glasses to break. The man also sustained a cut on his nose.

Melia’s co-accused said  “you shouldn’t have wound him up.” The injured party’s nose was not broken but he required stitches when he attended St. James’ Hospital.

Judge Orla Crowe set a headline sentence of three years and suspended the final year of it on strict conditions. She directed the two year sentence is to run consecutive to the sentence Melia is currently serving.

“This was a horrible assault on a man who for 40 years had a flower stand outside a cemetery,” said the judge. “That is a really important and sensitive role that this man was doing in society,” she added.

The judge noted Melia and his co-accused “set upon him on broad daylight” and went through his pockets and headbutted him after he had turned away.

Having read the victim impact statement, the judge said the assault had a “profound impact” and she had seen the photo of the blood-stained glasses and his stitches.

The judge said the most serious part was the psychological impact it had saying there was “only one victim here and that is the injured party.”

The judge said she had read a psychological report which outlined Melia had a very happy home life but spent most of his adulthood in prison.

The judge noted Melia’s remorse and said she would like to put some structure into his life into the future.

She said she had to take account of the profound impact on the victim. She noted Melia was on bail for two incidents at the time of the offence. The injured party also had to spend €900 on new glasses, she noted.

Judge Crowe said the injured party was “utterly blameless selling flowers in broad daylight” and that the threshold for a custodial sentence had been reached. The sentence for the robbery matter will expire in May 2026 and any other sentence would have to be consecutive, she added.

“This has to be marked with a consecutive custodial sentence” the judge said adding “he is a danger to society” if he does not get some sort of help while in custody. She said Melia is to remain under the supervision of the Probation Services for a period of two years post-release.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, said Melia had entered a plea on his trial date. He has one child and his partner was present in court to support him.

Drug use was the reason for Melia’s offending, said Mr Spencer. He had problems with school and learning difficulties but did achieve his junior certificate. He was diagnosed belatedly with Aspergers and ADHD but it was too late in terms of his education.

Counsel said Melia began to hang around with the wrong crowd and was spending €600 a week on heroin and medications. He said his client was doing quite well in Mountjoy Prison but wants to get help for his drug addiction with Melia saying “I’m sick of being in here.”

Mr Spencer said at the time of the assault Melia was dysregulated and unable to manage his emotions. Melia does feel regulated when he uses the gym, counsel added.

He was tested by the psychologist who said his cognitive ability was below average and he requires therapeutic care and addiction counselling. Mr Spencer said Melia needed some community-based recovery and psychoeducational intervention as well as transitional integration.

Mr Spencer said Melia was “a young man who didn’t get the educational intervention he needed” and was hanging around with wrong crowd and was easily led. He said Melia offered an apology to the injured party and “he is attuned to the impact it has had”.