Dublin man to be jailed for causing €60,000 worth of damage to train carriages with graffiti

By Eimear Dodd

A man caused over €60,000 worth of damage by graffiting train carriages, also assaulted an Irish Rail employee, a court has heard.

Sean Cullen (22) pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage and one of assault under Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, known as common assault. 

The court heard these pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions on a full facts basis.

Marc Thompson BL, prosecuting, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Irish Rail faced significant clean-up costs.

Mr Thompson said Cullen is being held accountable for damage costing €60,914 as part of the prosecution. He said that Irish Rail have indicated further costs of €40,000 for these incidents alone.

After hearing facts, Judge Martin Nolan remanded Cullen, also known as Cullen-Wilson, of Hope Avenue, East Wall, Dublin 3 into custody until Friday, July 18 when he indicated he would finalise the case.

Judge Nolan said he would give his full decision on Friday, saying the court thought Cullen “deserves a salutary lesson“.

An investigating garda told Mr Thompson that Irish Rail contacted gardai after an incident at the Fairview DART Depot on September 25, 2021.

An Irish Rail employee noticed two men at the depot who were acting suspiciously and recognised that they did not work there.

He approached them and grabbed Cullen. There was then a physical altercation during which the injured party was peppersprayed by Cullen. 

The court heard there was a struggle between the Irish Rail employee and Cullen, during which the second man intervened.

There was graffiti on the exterior of carriages. Cullen and his co-accused – who is not before the courts – fled the scene.

The Irish Rail employee was peppersprayed to left side of his face, and sustained a swollen face during the incident.

He also complained of pain and an injury to his back when gardai arrived. He was out of work for a period but has since made a full recovery, returning to his role. He provided a victim impact statement but it was not read into the record.

Several incidents involving criminal damage by graffiti to train carriages were outlined to the court, with photos handed in. Others besides Cullen were also involved in some of these incidents, the court heard.

At the Docklands Train Station on February 21, 2020, the exterior of train carriages were sprayed with silver and black spray paint. Damage was also caused to the carriage’s interiors with ‘SD’ written using a marker.

Another incident also took place at Connolly Station on November 22, 2021. 

On June 6, 2020, the exterior of an equipment signal container at Merrion Gates, Merrion Road was also spray painted.

Cullen was identified from CCTV and his home was searched in May 2022. During this search, spray cans and other items were found.

He was arrested and questioned about these incidents, but nothing of evidential value was obtained.

Cullen’s fingerprints were identified on certian items by forensic analysis.

He has one previous conviction for damaging property.

Karl Monaghan BL, defending, put it to the investigating garda that that the second man “administered thumps“ to the injured party. Judge Nolan said the court had heard the evidence.

Seven references and an award Cullen received from a garda initiative were handed to the court.

Cullen also had €2,000 in court as a token of remorse.

Mr Monaghan said this was an“unfortunate series of offending“ which has had serious consequences for Irish Rail.

He said his client has no “real explanation“, adding that Cullen instructs he became “fascinated“ by graffiti in the East Wall area and was aware of a 1970s art movement in New York, in which some street artists spraypainted trains.

Counsel said his client knows his acts were criminal, wrong and accepts full responsibility.

He said Cullen “never gave any significant thought“ to the cost of his actions, and “never imagined“ it would be so high.

A letter of apology from Cullen was also read to the court in which he said he is “very regretful“ for his actions, never intended any harm and has not done any graffiti since then.

Cullen said he has tried to change his life for the benefit of himself, his family and community, adding that he would like to assist Irish Rail to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Cullen has a good work history, is an apprentice electrician but is not a man of means, counsel said.

Mr Monaghan said the number of incidents are aggravating but asked the court to consider ordering a probation report and directing his client to be assessed for community service.