A DRUG addict who terrorised 13 pensioners in their homes, assaulting and falsely imprisoning some, has been given an 11-year sentence with the final year suspended by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Anthony Connors (34) targeted victims living in accommodation for the elderly. He would call at their door and ask them a question before pushing past them and ransacking their house.
He was on early release from prison at the time and committed several of the offences while on bail.
Sometimes he assaulted the victim and on other occasions he locked them in a room as he escaped. Nearly all his victims were over 70 years of age. Connors, of Tulip Court, Darndale, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of burglary, three counts of false imprisonment, two counts of robbery, one of assault and one of handling stolen property.
The offences occurred in Donnybrook, Dún Laoghaire, Ringsend, Blackrock, Phibsboro, Ranelagh and in the city centre between November 2007 and March 2008.
Prior to his latest offending, Connors was serving an eight-year term for another string of burglaries but was given early release. He has 28 previous convictions for similar offences.
Most of Connors’s victims lived alone and many later told gardaí that they still suffered from nightmares and were afraid to leave the house.
He called to the door of one 67-year-old man and held a knife to his throat, forcing him into the house. Connors told him he was a drug addict and needed money, before taking £750. He locked the victim in the bathroom and fled.
Gardaí later saw him in the city centre and chased after him. He was stopped by a passing off-duty army officer and arrested.
On another occasion he knocked on the door of a 68-year-old man and asked for his landlord’s phone number. When the man said he did not have it, Connors forced him inside and punched and kicked him as he lay on the ground.
He then held a bread knife to his throat before ransacking the house for money. The victim later picked him out of an identification parade.
A 79-year-old man, who has since died, was locked in his bedroom while Connors escaped with over €500.
Garda Brian Quirke told prosecuting counsel, Kerida Naidoo BL, that the victim died of a terminal illness but the robbery made his last few months very stressful. He said he could not sleep and felt unsafe in his own home.
A 73-year-old man was kicked and punched as Connors forced his way into his Blackrock home. He then demanded drugs and stole the man’s heart medication along with €260.
Defence counsel Luigi Rea BL said Connors was a heroin and cocaine addict who had spent his childhood in institutions.