A man with 341 previous convictions has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for threatening to kill his pregnant partner.
Dean Joyce’s tally of criminal convictions was possibly the highest of anyone to appear before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, his barrister said on Monday.
Joyce (33), of Rowlagh Park, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman, who was his then partner, and threatening to kill her at an address in Tallaght on November 6th, 2024.
She was eight months pregnant at the time, the court heard.
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Garda Ciara Fenlon told Liam Dockery, prosecuting, gardaí were called to the house on November 7th last year where they were told how the previous evening a row between Joyce and his partner had led to a physical confrontation.
CCTV footage from the exterior of the home showed Joyce pursuing his partner outside their home while brandishing a hammer. He threatened to kill her and their unborn child and he forced her back into the property.
The court heard he took her phone and she was not able to retrieve it until the following morning when she alerted gardaí. Joyce was arrested and has been in custody since.
About a third of Joyce’s previous convictions were for road traffic offences, the court heard.
The remainder included convictions for assault, escaping from custody, unlawful taking of a vehicle, criminal damage, possessing stolen property, theft, criminal damage and public order offences.
“It’s the highest amount of previous convictions that I have ever had to deal with,” Oisín Clarke, defending, told the judge about Joyce’s record.
In a victim impact statement read out by counsel, Joyce’s former partner said she did not know about his past when she first met him and that initially “things seemed okay”.
However, she said her life then changed dramatically.
She said she kept reliving the memories of him threatening to kill her and their unborn baby. She said he not only destroyed her but also the lives of her other children. She is trying to rebuild her life now, she said in her statement.
Mr Clarke said Joyce had a “colossal” amount of difficulties growing up.
The court heard Joyce had no father present in his life and that his mother was a heroin addict who died when he was 13.
His life then spun out of control and he started taking drugs as a teenager. Joyce had no second-level education and had been institutionalised from years spent in custody, Mr Clarke said.
He managed to rehabilitate for two years and was living in the UK for a period, but relapsed upon his return to Ireland, the court heard.
Sentencing Joyce on Monday, Judge Orla Crowe said it was clear Joyce had a childhood of “considerable deprivation” and a life that involved criminality, drug abuse and homelessness.
She took into account a number of mitigating factors.
“He has had adversity in his life, but he is not the victim in this situation. His former partner is the victim,” the judge said.
“This was heinous offending towards a woman in the advanced stages of pregnancy. He came after her with a hammer and threatened to kill her and her unborn child. She was his intimate partner.”
The judge set a headline sentence of six years which she reduced to four years, taking the mitigating factors into account.
She said to incentivise Joyce’s rehabilitation and “for the benefit and protection of society” she would suspend the final six months of the sentence on condition Joyce remained under the supervision of the Probation Service during the period.
