A DUBLIN man has been jailed for 10 years after a court heard he was on bail when his accomplice stabbed a taxi man with a syringe.
Describing the men as "modern highway bandits", Judge Cyril Kelly said the courts had to reflect the nature of such attacks.
He told Thomas Coleman that in law he was as guilty as his accomplice, who actually wielded the syringe as they tried to rob the taximan.
Since then the victim had been given the "all clear" but effectively every part of his existence had been touched, Judge Kelly said in Dublin Circuit Criminal "Court.
The man had to eve up his job and had not worked for a year. He had to get an injection immediately after the incident and had attended hospital for seven months.
Coleman (25), of Croke Villas, admitted a total of five offences which he carried out while on temporary release. He was on bail for the last three of the offences.
He admitted two handbag snatches from cars stopped at traffic lights in the Ballybough area on March 17th and March 21st, 1996.
Coleman also admitted his role in the taking of the taxi on July 12th, 1996, an attempted robbery the day before at the North Strand Road and robbing a woman at syringe point at a bus stop.
On the night of July 12th, 1996 the taxi was hailed on O'Connell Street by Coleman and his accomplice.
The taxi man soon realised their intentions and he gave a sign to other taxi men indicating he was in trouble. The second man then put the syringe to his neck and ordered him to drive to a certain location.
Judge Kelly noted that "voluntarily or involuntarily" the taxi a man put his foot on the brakes and the syringe was jabbed into his face and finger. Despite this, the taxi man managed to spray both attackers in the face with a substance from a can.