Man jailed for five years for ‘humiliating’ attack on victim

By Anne Sharkey and Isabel Hayes

A drug addict who partially stripped his victim at scissors-point and cut his hair in a “humiliating” attack has been jailed for five years.

Myles Connors (24) was today jailed for carrying out the false imprisonment and assault of Edward Babos in April 2020 as well as a robbery in November 2018.

Connors and another man stripped-search Mr Babos in his friend’s home because “they thought he had a bag of gear” on him, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Connors then cut Mr Babos’s hair with the scissors and forced him into Mr Babos’s car to bring him to an ATM to “get any money he had”.

Connors, of Bearna Park, Sandyford in Dublin pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and false imprisonment of Mr Babos at Ballyogan Road, Carrickmines on April 27, 2020.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of robbing a phone and cash at Kilcross estate in Sandyford on November 12, 2018.

In that offence, the court heard Connors and two other men surrounded the victim as he walked along the road with a friend.

Connors, described in court as the “ringleader”, pointed a knife at the young man’s stomach before making him reset his iPhone. The trio made off with the phone and €150 in cash.

One other man is still before the courts in relation to that case.

Connors has 17 previous convictions for road traffic offences, trespassing, theft, criminal damage and failure to appear in court.

Sentencing Connors today Judge Pauline Codd said the attack on Mr Babos involved “particularly humiliating tactics” including partially stripping him and forcibly cutting his hair.

She noted the assault took place over an hour and involved Mr Babos being forced into his own car, which was then driven at dangerous speeds throughout the neighbourhood.

A threat to jam the scissors in his eyes was particularly serious, the judge said.

She noted Connors “didn’t use much cleverness” in terms of how he carried out the attack and did not try to hide his identity. The judge said he instead relied on threats and intimidation. “He is a bully,” she said.

In relation to the robbery, Judge Codd noted the victim was a young man who had a knife pointed at his stomach.

She handed down a four year sentence for the false imprisonment and assault of Mr Babos and a three year sentence for the robbery and ordered that they run consecutively. She suspended the final two years on a number of conditions.

She backdated the sentence to when he first went into custody in May 2020.