A man who stabbed a 60-year-old pharmacist in the hand with a screwdriver while on bail after robbing two German students at knifepoint has been jailed for six years.
Matthew O'Donoghue (24), originally from Ashington Road, Dublin, was arrested after he reported his motorbike stolen.
Det Garda Michael Smyth said that on February 18th, 2001, O'Donoghue walked Mr Christian Feuerer (25), a student, at knifepoint from his house at Claude Road, Drumcondra, some 800 metres to an Ulster Bank ATM on Dorset Street, but the victim found he had left his bank card at his residence.
O'Donoghue walked him back again to Claude Road, where Mr Feuerer's housemate, Mr Andreas Abel (28), had arrived home. O'Donoghue then took two bank cards from Mr Abel and, once again using Mr Feuerer as a hostage, walked him back to the bank machine, took £600 and returned his hostage home again before releasing him.
O'Donoghue pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the theft of £600 and two bank cards from Mr Abel and the theft of 410 deutschmarks and £70 cash from Mr Feuerer, and of falsely imprisoning him.
O'Donoghue had arrived at the house and asked for someone else. Mr Feuerer gave him a drink of water and allowed him to use the toilet, but O'Donoghue took a knife from the kitchen to commit the crimes. Mr Feuerer noted the motorbike's number and contacted gardaí after his ordeal.
O'Donoghue also admitted assaulting Mr Eoin Dennehy, a pharmacist, with intent to rob him on May 8th, 2001, while he was on bail for the robbery of the students. He had six previous convictions.
Det Garda Smyth said O'Donoghue produced the screwdriver and demanded pills from Mr Dennehy, who struggled with him, kicking him a number of times in attempting to hold him back.
Mr Dennehy was stabbed a number of times in the hand but his injuries were not serious. An independent witness also identified O'Donoghue's motorbike and he was arrested the next day at a house he shared with his girlfriend on Clonliffe Road.
Ms Caroline Biggs, for O'Donoghue, said her client had been a heroin addict since he was 17 but had made great progress recently in a programme known as Newstart.
Judge Desmond Hogan suspended the last 18 months of the sentence because O'Donoghue was trying to do something with his drug addiction.