Man convicted of threatening to kill acquaintance

A man has been convicted following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of threatening to kill an acquaintance. Mark Sheridan (25), Railway Road, Clongriffin, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Mark Jones at Feltrim Road, Kinsealy, on October 20th, 2013. He had also denied charges of having a firearm and harassing Mr Jones between July 1st and October 19th, 2013, but the jury acquitted him of those offences. It returned its verdict following a four-day trial.

Mr Jones told the jury that he was stopped at traffic lights and Sheridan was directly behind him in his blue Honda Accord. He said there were up to six cars stopped at the lights. Sheridan and another man got out of the Accord. Mr Jones said the other man was wearing a balaclava and had a gun in his hand. He started hitting it off the passenger side of his car.

Mr Jones told Martina Baxter, prosecuting, that someone shouted “You’re dead. Get out of the car” and there was a mention of a pipe bomb being thrown at his house. He told the jury Sheridan was kicking his driver’s door, punching at the window and pulling on the door handle before he said to him: “You’re dead. You’re a rat.”

Mr Jones said he just sat there and asked “why” but that he “got nothing back”. “I was scared. I thought my life was in danger. I couldn’t believe it at the time. It was like something out of a TV show.”

Mr Jones said the lights turned green and he drove off, taking the long way home. He said he was not followed. He contacted gardaí­ the following day and later made a statement.

Mr Jones agreed with Paul Comiskey O’Keeffe, defending, that in about May or June of that year, he had a conversation with another young man in the area who accused Mr Jones of being with his girlfriend. Mr Jones said that he had told this man he had been with his own girlfriend for a number of years at that stage and he had no reason to cheat on her.

He described this other youth as a “nervous wreck” and said he started mentioning loads of names whom he suspected may have been with his girlfriend. Mr Jones said he had told this other youth that the woman in question had previously been seen in Sheridan’s car along with one of Sheridan’s friends.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring called Garda Dómhnaill O’Connell into the witness box following the verdict to provide the jury with more background information in relation to both men and the possible cause of their disagreement. Garda O’Connell confirmed that the men knew each other and neither had any previous convictions. He that gardaí­ had their own suspicions as to the cause of their disagreement, but there was no evidence to support this.

Judge Ring told Mr Comiskey O’Keeffe that his client had been convicted of a very serious charge. She said she had noted Mr Jones’s demeanour while giving evidence and said it had been a disturbing incident for him.

Garda O’Connell confirmed that there had been no further incidents between the men and agreed that Sheridan has abided by his bail conditions.

Judge Ring remanded Sheridan on continuing bail, adjourned sentencing until July 24th and ordered a victim impact report.