A man who drove his car on to a footpath in an attempt to hit another man who had just been the victim of a sustained assault has been jailed for 2½ years.
David Mulvey (36) was one of a group of men who attacked Chris Duggan in an incident in the Cardiff Inn in Finglas. Duggan and some other men had minutes earlier come into the pub, armed with a baseball bat to confront a group Mulvey had been drinking with.
When Mulvey’s group squared up to Duggan’s group, Duggan tried to leave but he tripped over a stool in the foyer of the pub. Mulvey’s group then launched a sustained attack on him.
Detective Sergeant Shane McCarthy told John Fitzgerald BL, prosecuting, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Mulvey attempted to hit Duggan with a bar chair and to stamp on him.
He left the pub and got into his Toyota Avensis which was parked nearby. Det Sgt McCarthy said Duggan managed to get out of the Cardiff Inn and walked up Cardiffsbridge Road.
CCTV footage was played to the court in which the sergeant pointed out Mulvey driving his car away from the pub and up Cardiffsbridge Road.
He said he could be seen driving on to the footpath in the direction of Duggan and another man, before he turned his car and again “hops up on to the footpath narrowly missing them”, Det Sgt McCarthy told the court.
Pleaded guilty
Mulvey of Berryfield Drive, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to violent disorder, dangerous driving and endangerment on October 19th, 2017. He has 27 previous convictions and has been on remand in prison since November last year.
Duggan (28) of Cardiffsbridge Road, also in Finglas, was sentenced to two years with the final 15 months suspended by Judge Cormac Quinn last April. He had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Det Sgt McCarthy agreed with Michael Hourigan BL, defending Mulvey, that although his client did try to kick and stamp on Duggan, the CCTV footage doesn’t show him actually making contact with the man.
He accepted that Mulvey left the pub while the assault continued on Duggan.
Mr Hourigan said his client accepted his response to Duggan was disproportionate and that the consequences could have been more grave.
Judge Nolan said he suspected what Mulvey was doing was “pretty intentional” and that he had earlier “participated in a ferocious attack and beating”.
“The trouble was brought to his door, he had been sitting in the pub minding his own business. To get into your car and follow people in your car and try to strike them is pretty vicious,” Judge Nolan said.
He sentenced Mulvey to 2½ years in prison and disqualified him from driving for four years.