Aggravated burglary victim feared he would bleed to death

Sonya McLean

THE victim of an aggravated burglary has said that he feared he would bleed to death when an intruder stabbed him while he was bringing him about the house trying to source valuables.

Thomas Locke (28) who claimed he had no recollection of the event, asked the victim to call a taxi for him after forcing the man to put a television, a game console and an ornamental samurai sword into a  bag.

Locke of Ramillies Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin was sentenced to seven years with the final two years suspended today.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to aggravated burglary and assault causing harm to the 24-year-old victim on July 18, 2017 in his Dublin home. He has 73 previous convictions, including one for aggravated burglary and false imprisonment.

Garda Conor Dooley said that Locke stabbed the victim nine times, including once with a small kitchen knife to his body which pierced the man’s kidney. The man had minutes earlier woken up to find Locke standing in the doorway of his bedroom armed with a hammer and two knives.

The burglar demanded the car keys but when the man told him he didn’t have them because the vehicle belonged to his mother, Locke forced him downstairs to look for them.

A victim impact statement, read out in court by Gda Dooley stated that the man will be left with permanent scarring from the stab wounds he received from Locke to his face and body.

He said he was in his little sister’s bedroom when Locke used a small kitchen knife to inflict the stab wound which pierced his kidney and the blood sprayed onto the bed clothes and carpet. He said at that point he feared he would bleed to death.

“No single day goes by without thinking of what happened,” the statement continued before he added that he has since changed jobs because he was working as a manager in a bookmakers and he was too afraid for his safety while doing the night shift.

He said at one point after the attack he spotted Locke in the distance and he jumped onto the ground so the man would not see him. He cannot sleep on his own in his home and has started going into a depression.

The victim says he struggles to socialise with friends and is always on guard watching the door to see who is coming into the venue. He struggles to watch violent TV programmes and movies.

“I will never forget it. The pain went away but the memories don’t,” the statement concluded.

Judge Pauline Codd said the victim sustained “significant injuries” following an invasion into his home in an “horrific” ordeal that lasted an hour.

She noted that the man will be left with lifelong scarring, that he was punched and threatened and felt that he was going to be killed and acknowledged that he was in fear he was going to bleed to death.

She noted the significant impact it has on the man’s life which she described as “quite understandable”.

Judge Codd said she was taking into account the fact that Locke was struggling with a drug addiction at the time and had no recollection of the events before sentencing him.