No jail for man who hijacked car to drive to court
A 19-year-old has today avoided jail for hijacking a car so he could get to his court hearing less than a mile away.
Michael Farrell was late for his hearing in the District Court because his car had been clamped.
He and his twin brother threatened a 12-year-old boy who had been left in a car by his mother and took the vehicle so they could drive to the courthouse less than a mile away.
Farrell of Montpelier Gardens, Infirmary Road pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to hijacking the car at Main Street Blanchardstown on December 21, 2010.
He has 59 previous convictions including burglaries, drug possession and theft.
Last December, his brother Darren was jailed for 18 months for the same offence.
Garda Martina Drew told prosecuting counsel, Michael Bowman BL, that Catherine Buckley had parked her car on the main street of Blanchardstown and her 12-year-old son stayed in the car as she went to carry out some errands. She left the keys in the ignition and her son locked the doors.
The brothers were on their way to Blanchardstown District Court in a Nissan Micra and had parked on the main street and came back to find it clamped.
When Ms Buckley’s son pulled down his window to tell them that it had just recently been clamped, Darren Farrell reached into the passenger window and opened the door lock.
He told the boy to get out or he would “batter” him and the two brothers drove off in the car.
Shortly afterwards they were spotted running from the car into the nearby court house, which was “less than a mile away”, Gda Drew said. They were arrested and the car was returned to the owner.
Judge Martin Nolan asked why the pair didn’t just walk to the court.
“If he was late we would get a warrant,” Mr Bowman replied.
The court previously heard that the victim was left traumatised and depressed as a result of the incident and that his sense of safety was destroyed.
Defence counsel, John Berry BL, said his client has a mild learning disability and a lower than average IQ.
He submitted he was “on the very fringes of the incident” and that it was Darren Farrell who had threatened the boy.
Judge Nolan commented that it must have been “extremely frightening from the boy’s point of view”. He noted Farrell is not “blessed with a strong IQ” but that he knows the difference between right and wrong.
He imposed an 18-month sentence, suspended in full for two years and ordered he undergo two years' probation supervision.
