Courts

Man (23) jailed for ‘savagely’ punching woman and delivery driver in unprovoked incidents

Ronnie Wilde knocked woman to ground after being asked to be quiet in the emergency department at St James’s Hospital in Dublin

Judge Martin Nolan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Ronnie Wilde's history of offending was 'lengthy and serious'. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Isabel Hayes
Tue Jun 25 2024 - 14:06

A man has been jailed for 3½ years for “savagely” punching a woman in a hospital emergency department and a delivery driver who knocked on his door in separate incidents over the course of two days.

Ronnie Wilde (23) pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman causing her harm at St James’s Hospital on September 26th last and assaulting a delivery driver causing him harm when he called to his home address at Clanbrassil Terrace, Dublin 8 on September 27th last. Both attacks were completely unprovoked, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Wilde, who has 52 previous convictions, also pleaded guilty to robbing €40 worth of groceries from a shop in Dublin 8 while armed with an implement on September 1st last.

Garda Colm McCarthy told Rebecca Smith BL, prosecuting, that during the robbery incident Wilde was armed with an implement that may have been a knife when he threatened a shop worker and stole the groceries.

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Later that month, Wilde got into a verbal altercation with a woman who asked him to be quiet while he was in the emergency department at St James’s Hospital. Wilde punched the woman twice to the face, causing her to fall down. Photographs of her extensive facial injuries were handed into court.

The next day, a food delivery driver was knocking on a door at Clanbrassil Terrace when Wilde opened it and punched him to the face several times without warning. The driver was taken to St James’s Hospital for treatment. Gardaí were alerted and Wilde was arrested at his home in a highly intoxicated state, the court heard. He has been in custody since.

Defence counsel said Wilde was using drugs and suffering from paranoia at the time of the assaults. The court heard most of his previous convictions date back to when he was a juvenile and that he has remained drug-free in custody.

Sentencing Wilde on Tuesday, Judge Martin Nolan said Wilde had punched both parties “savagely” in the separate and unprovoked attacks and that his history of offending was “lengthy and serious”. He set a headline sentence of five years but reduced it to 3½ years after taking mitigating factors into account.

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