THE youngest son of a notorious criminal has been jailed for five years by a judge who defended his father in the same court some 25 years ago.
Renaldo Felloni (19) was told by Judge Joseph Mathews at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court: "I feel a true sense of compassion for you for what I know of the sad saga of your life."
Judge Mathews said he had been counsel for the defendant's father, Tony Felloni, on a charge of serious assault on Mrs Ann Felloni in which her jaw was broken. He said Mr Justice James Darcy had been on the bench.
"That was many years before you were born and it is strange that I should now be the judge sitting here today with you in front of me," he added.
Mr Luigi Rea, defending, agreed his client came from a "most unique family which has one of the most tragic histories in the city". His client's father is currently serving a year sentence for drugs offences.
Gda Margaret Jones said Renaldo Felloni sat in beside a female hackney driver and forced her at knifepoint to go down a culdesac at Richmond Street. She handed over £10 and Stg£5 to Felloni, who then forced her out of the car, drove off and crashed it in the Killarney Street area.
Gda Jones said she identified Felloni from the victim's description of him and on checking, discovered he had been released from prison.
Felloni, Lower Dominic Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having a knife with intent to rob on December 6th, 1996, and to robbing the hackney driver at knifepoint on February 8th, 1997, while on temporary release from prison.