A DART passenger was slashed in the neck with a craft knife because he failed to get out of the way of a group of youths, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told yesterday. The victim has suffered from restricted movement since the attack in March 1998.
His attacker, Gary Breen, has pleaded guilty to this and 70 other crimes. At a previous sitting, Judge Frank O'Donnell described Breen's crime record as "in outer space" and said he believed there was something "drastically wrong" with Breen's mental state.
Breen (21), of Thomastown Crescent, Sallynoggin, yesterday pleaded guilty to causing serious harm on March 16th, 1998. Judge O'Donnell adjourned sentencing to November 5th, 1999.
Sgt Thomas Byrne told the court that Breen's victim boarded the DART at Blackrock. Later, he refused to get out of the way when pushed by youths. After Breen attacked him, he was rushed to hospital and received 12 stitches to the neck.
Sgt Byrne said Breen was currently serving a three-year sentence for robbery and had 30 previous convictions before the 70 charges he pleaded guilty to this year. Among the crimes for which Breen awaits sentencing are 15 counts of unauthorised taking of vehicles and 10 of criminal damage.