Two years in jail for man who stole teenager's bike
A man who knocked a teenager and his seven-year-old brother off a bicycle and then robbed it and a mobile phone has been given a two year sentence by Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Leonard Finnegan (aged 20), who told gardaí it was his bicycle which he loaned to the 17-year-old victim was previously advised by Judge O'Donnell "to have a think about where you're going".
Finnegan with an address at Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W, pleaded guilty to robbery at Dolphin's Barn Road on June 24, 2005. He had 14 previous convictions, which were mostly dealt with in the District Court, and included stealing a car.
Judge O'Donnell suspended the last year of the sentence on condition that Finnegan remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for a year upon his release.
He said the probation report, which he had previously ordered after telling Finnegan it "in his best interest" to adjourn the case to allow for an assessment with the Probation Services, was not very promising and said he was at a high risk of re-offending.
Judge O'Donnell told defence counsel, Ms Kathleen Leader in July, that her client was now in the "big league" but it seemed that he was capable of a lot more than spending the rest of his life in and out of prison.
"In five years he could find himself permanently inside or in a different kind of life altogether," he continued.
Garda Dermot Fearon told Mr Bernard Condon BL, prosecuting, that Finnegan ran up to his victim who had his younger brother on the crossbar of the bike. He then kicked him on the hip before taking his mobile phone from his pocket and making off with the bike.
The teenager ran after Finnegan but he threw an apple at him and made his escape.
Gda Fearon said Finnegan at first later told gardai that he had taken the bike back when the victim had not returned it but later admitted that he didn't own the bike and had robbed the mobile phone.
He told gardaí: "I don't like the fella but I don't always bully him."
Gda Fearon agreed with Ms Leader that this was not a sophisticated crime because the victim knew Finnegan who had made no attempt to disguise his face.
He accepted also that there was not a substantial age difference between the two and that although neither the phone nor the bike were ever recovered, Finnegan did give back the SIM card from the mobile.
