A YOUTH whose string of violent crimes included an attempted robbery of a man who was forced into a canal for half an hour on a freezing winter night has been jailed for five years.
Thomas Jervis (19), Crannoge Road, Ballymun, Dublin, was one of three men who had pleaded guilty previously to attempted robbery of Wei Gao and to robbing a German tourist, Carsten Haueis, on October 31st, 2005.
Jervis and his accomplices, cousins Brian (20) and Stephen Maughan (18), St Margaret’s Park, Finglas, also admitted an attempted robbery at a Chinese takeaway in Finglas and an assault on April 7th, 2006, on delivery man Ming Yuan, who was punched and kicked in the face and had his hair pulled, while the three demanded his car keys.
The Maughans were jailed for 6½ years and five years respectively last February by Judge Katherine Delahunt who adjourned sentence on Jervis on condition that he attend a treatment centre from Monday to Sunday and that he not come to the adverse attention of gardaí.
Garda Raymond Lee told Paul Greene, prosecuting, that Jervis was now also awaiting sentence in Dublin District Court where he had since pleaded guilty to intoxication in a public place and threatening or abusive behaviour towards gardaí.
He had also been stopped a number of times by gardaí on patrol in Ballymun while he was obviously intoxicated but no convictions had resulted from these incidents.
Garda Lee told Judge Delahunt that after Mr Gao had been pushed down a steep incline into the freezing canal by the three who had attempted to rob him, they robbed Mr Haueis of his wallet and mobile phone after threatening him with a corkscrew some 500 metres further along the canal bank.
Garda Lee said that Jervis had returned to Mr Haueis, brandished the corkscrew again, and told him to jump into the canal.
Mr Haueis backed off but the Maughan cousins also returned and with the trio surrounding him, he jumped into the water to avoid being attacked by the corkscrew. He managed to get out himself and reported the incident to nearby gardaí.
Jervis and the Maughans were stopped by other gardaí shortly afterwards on the canal bank in an unrelated matter and when Mr Haueis caught up with them he identified them.
Garda Lee said Jervis admitted his role as well as the earlier attempted robbery of Mr Gao and warned gardaí that the Chinese national was probably still in the water.
The Dublin Fire Brigade was immediately contacted and Mr Gao was rescued from the water. He was taken to hospital but released later that night after it was found that he had no significant injuries.
Judge Delahunt sentenced Jervis to three years for the October robberies and three years for the April ones to be served back to back.
She suspended the final two years, replacing it with 18 months probation.