A MAN has been imprisoned for six years for slashing another man's throat outside a Salvation Army hostel in Dublin last year.
Francis Lyness believed he should have been at the head of a queue because he had called beforehand, but was told to return as he was too early, Det Garda Declan Power said in the Central Criminal Court.
When the man at the head of the queue would not yield the place, Lyness lashed out with a sharp knife and just missed his victim's jugular vein. He was detained in hospital for a fortnight and has a permanent scar.
Lyness (35) pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to his victim on October 16th, 1995. He also admitted a syringe point armed robbery of a Bray shop on September 25th, 1995, in which he took jewellery valued at about £500 from a woman assistant. Lyness had one previous conition in 1989 for receiving.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, defending, said his client ran away from home at 14 because by that time his father had broken his arms about six times and knocked out all his teeth. He had a serious breakdown two years ago when his relationship with a girlfriend ended.
He received psychiatric treatment and was on heroin at the time of the knife attack.
Judge O Connor noted Lyness could easily have been on a murder charge.