Man jailed for stabbing man in the neck during prearranged fight
A Somalian father-of-three who stabbed another man in the neck during a prearranged fight has been jailed for 18 months.
Judge Melanie Greally said it was “a matter of chance alone” that the wound inflicted by Mohammed Adan Ali (26) was not more serious.
The court heard the knife did not strike any major blood vessels and the injured party, a Somalian acquaintance, was treated with stitches.
Ali, with an address at Balfe Road, Walkinstown, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm at Mountjoy Square, Dublin, on June 22, 2017. He has no previous convictions.
At the sentence hearing, Garda Stephen Rooney told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that Ali rang the injured party asking for money to send to his daughter.
Gda Rooney said Ali used “choice words” in this call and during subsequent phone contact arranged to meet the injured party for a fight.
The court heard a third Somalian national broke up the initial confrontation, but Ali then pulled a knife from his jeans and came towards the injured party.
The victim later told gardaí that he didn't run because he didn't think Ali would use the knife. Gda Rooney told Ms Boyle that the knife broke when Ali stabbed the injured man in the neck.
Gda Rooney agreed with Karl Monaghan BL, defending, that his client had had a difficult life and had witnessed his father's murder while a child.
The garda agreed that Ali was estranged from his mother because of his continued alcohol abuse. He accepted Ali was apologetic and had a “grievance” on his mind at the time.
Judge Greally acknowledged that Ali had a history of alcohol abuse, but had addressed his issues and was deemed at low risk of re-offending.
She took into account the “difficult, chaotic and often violent circumstances of (his) youth in Somalia”, but said stabbing a person in the neck necessitated a custodial sentence.
