A father of six who nearly killed a 15-year-old boy by stabbing him in the abdomen and leaving him on the street with his intestines hanging out, has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Michael Treacy (49), a trained nurse and medical technician, of Ratoath Estate, Cabra, pleaded guilty to causing Seán Allen serious harm at Mobhi Road, near Glasnevin, on February 9th, 2001.
Mr Allen, now 20, told Judge Katherine Delahunt he had to carry his intestines down the road and that as he screamed for help, Treacy drove away.
He had been stabbed with a 30mm Gurkha knife which Treacy obtained in Nepal when he brought a group of disadvantaged children there on a climbing expedition in 1998.
Mr Allen told the court he became a recluse following the attack and found it hard to cope with the fact that a man would do such a thing to a 15-year-old. He asked the court to give him justice so he could move on from the "vicious crime that was committed against me".
Judge Delahunt said that save for the mitigating circumstances in this case, such as Treacy's previous good character, the court would have considered a five-year sentence.
The judge was told Treacy works for an air and sea rescue company as a winch man and formerly worked for the Air Corps. He has a long history of working with community youth groups and no previous convictions.
Insp Thomas McCarrick told Pauline Walley SC, prosecuting, that Mr Allen was visiting friends to attend a juvenile disco where he met a girl he knew, but following a "romantic engagement", they were asked to leave by parental supervisors.
While walking along the Tolka River, they received phone calls from friends telling them there had been a row outside the disco in which a friend of Treacy's son had been hurt.
Insp McCarrick said Mr Allen and the girl parted company and he continued towards his friend's house along Mobhi Road. He became aware of a fracas ahead of him and recognised some of the people involved, including Treacy's son.
Insp McCarrick said that as he came upon the group, Treacy stabbed him "out of the blue with no words having been said".
The inspector said Treacy admitted that after his son rang to say a friend had been injured during a row outside the disco, he had agreed to collect him.
After Treacy collected his son and some other boys, he decided "to look for the culprits". He saw youths on Mobhi Road, got out of his 4x4 and called the boys in the vehicle to join him in approaching them. Mr Allen was attacked when he came upon the group during the row that ensued, Insp McCarrick said.
Several character witnesses, including work colleagues and a priest, told Judge Delahunt that they were shocked by what Treacy had done and said it was totally out of character for a man who had done so much work with disadvantaged youths.
Judge Delahunt ordered that a bank draft for €20,000, which was offered by Treacy's barrister for the victim, be handed over.