A mugger who threatened to stab a woman in a wheelchair with a hepatitis C infected needle has been given a three-year suspended sentence.
Damien Horgan put the syringe within inches of the woman's neck and said he would "stick" her with it unless he was given her friend's handbag. The women, both in their early 20s, had been on their way to meet friends in a French restaurant when the attack happened. The victim, identified in court as a Ms Sheehan, was paralysed from the neck down in a car crash three years before the attack in 1997.
Horgan (26) currently living with the Victory Outreach Project, Dublin, pleaded guilty to robbery at Fade Street. Det Garda Frank Doyle told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Ms O'Reilly had been moving a bicycle which was blocking Ms Sheenan's wheelchair when the attack occurred.
Horgan tried to grab Ms O'Reilly's handbag and shouted, "If you don't let go, your friend gets it." Ms O'Reilly received cuts to the hand, which she believed were caused by the syringe.
Det Gda Doyle later saw Horgan run towards Temple Bar and alerted another garda. A needle found in Horgan's possession was stained with blood and tests later showed he had hepatistis C. He told gardai he and his girlfriend had been suffering heroin withdrawal symptoms on the day of the attack. They had an argument after she said she was going to prostitute herself in Benburb Street to get drug money.
Defence counsel Patrick Marrinan said it was a callous crime, but Horgan had made great efforts to end his heroin addiction, and had no previous convictions. Pastor Andrew Valdez said that Horgan had entered the Victory Outreach rehabilitation programme and had made excellent progress. He had been working with other heroin addicts and had shown remorse for his crime.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said it was difficult to imagine two more unfortunate and vulnerable victims, and the difficulty of moving a wheelchair around Dublin had facilitated the attack. The sheer awfulness of the assault called for a jail term, but to do so would likely set back Horgan's progress in dealing with his addiction. Horgan was bound to the peace for three years and ordered to remain under the supervision of the probation services for 18 months.