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Two men who hijacked a skip-hire truck and attacked the driver jailed

One was sentenced to five years, with two suspended, and the other received four years, with two suspended.

TWO MEN WHO hijacked a skip-hire truck, after dragging the driver from his cab and knocking him about the head have been jailed.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Gerard McDonnell (27) was serving a seven-year driving ban and Christian Goonery (30) was on bail when they pulled the skip driver from the vehicle while threatening him with a hammer.

McDonnell of Kilmahuddrick Road, Bawnogue, Clondalkin, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing a mechanically propelled vehicle, on 6 February 2016 at Deansrath Green, Clondalkin.

He further pleaded guilty to unlawfully seizing the truck as well as endangerment and two counts of dangerous driving.

Goonery of Lindisfarne Avenue, Clondalkin pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking the vehicle as well as being a passenger in it.

Judge Cormac Quinn sentenced McDonnell to five years in prison with two suspended, and banned him from driving for ten years. He sentenced Goonery to four years imprisonment and suspended the final two years.

He said the event appeared to be “opportunistic” and it was lucky that no-one was injured apart from the owner of the vehicle who sustained bruising to his face and head.

Garda Shane McHugh told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that the injured party had delivered a skip to a house and was making a phone call when two men appeared at the driver’s door of the cab. The defendants pulled the door open and ordered him to “get out”.

When the driver tried to use his legs to defend himself they dragged him out and caused him to fall to the ground and injure his knee, the court heard.

“He also got a few knocks around the head at this time and said he was very scared,” Gda McHugh said.

Garda McHugh said McDonnell then took a hammer which the driver kept in his cab and waved it around in a threatening manner to prevent the driver from getting back in.

“The men drove away, leaving the driver on the ground. The injured party contacted gardaí, and told them the truck had a tracking device in it” Garda McHugh said.

The vehicle nearly hit a person out for a jog on Cloverhill Road, the court heard.

During the pursuit by gardaí, the vehicle failed to stop at red lights and repeatedly drove on the wrong side of the road. The chase ended when the truck clipped a kerb, lost control and flipped onto its side, landing on the pavement.

One of the men got out and ran off and one remained in the cab, Garda McHugh said.

The court heard McDonnell has 49 previous convictions and it was clear that he had raised the hammer at the driver.

Goonery has previous convictions for theft, possession of knives and is currently serving a three-year sentence for assault causing harm, Gda McHugh said.

Damien Colgan SC, defending McDonnell, said what his client did on the day was completely opportunistic and reckless and he expressed remorse on behalf of his client.

Des Dockery SC, defending Goonery, said while this was opportunistic it was not premeditated and his client played a lesser role in the offence. He said his client had alcohol and drug addiction issues before he went into jail and he had taken courses for this since going into prison.

Judge Quinn said the aggravating factors included both men unlawfully seizing the truck by force, the waving of the hammer at the injured party as well as driving in a dangerous manner.

The mitigating factors included the early pleas, their ages and personal circumstances.

Read: ‘Come back Joshua’: Mother delivers impact statement as father sentenced to life for murdering baby

Read: Rugby rape trial jury told ‘morals of any person involved are completely irrelevant’

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    Mute Fear Uisce
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 2:54 PM

    if you believe that you’ll believe anything

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    Mute Regina Farrell
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:03 PM

    @Fear Uisce: Free house’s for everyone next to Mammy

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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:07 PM

    @Regina Farrell: Is that Regina Farrell or Regina Doherty?

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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:31 PM

    @Derek Poutch: sounds like the latter.

    20
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    Mute Fear Uisce
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:42 PM

    @Regina Farrell: it would be grand if that was the case

    9
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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:37 PM

    @Regina Farrell: . Do you really think people in council estates pay nothing on a monthly basis. How far removed are you from reality?

    21
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    Mute Neville Bartos
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:40 PM

    @saoirse janneau: can you explain what happens if someone in a council house doesn’t pay their rent?

    30
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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:43 PM

    @Neville Bartos: they get evicted like everyone else. It may take a while but they will get evicted.

    12
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    Mute Regina Farrell
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 7:13 PM

    @saoirse janneau: Just to confirm for you Saoirse, if you’re on the dole = free money. You use 10% of that free money to ‘pay’ rent = free house.

    32
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    Mute prop joe
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 7:35 PM

    @Regina Farrell: social houses are under a certain size and are not costumised like a home you would buy. You should get a job for the indo. They got a nice 100 million write off and their major shareholders dont have to pay intetest on their loans. But they love to attack the poirest in society.

    13
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    Mute Paddy McGovern
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    Jan 6th 2019, 4:24 PM

    @Regina Farrell: so after bailing out an economy destroyed by greedy builders and corrupt banks with their hard earned taxes, you want the irish tax payer to continue forking out a ridulous percentage of there wages to corrupt landlords with probably the worst tenant rights in the western world and little or no prospect of becoming property owners themselves. hmmm that seems fair you wouldnt happen to be a fine gael vote or lemme guess fianna fail.

    1
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    Mute James Carpenter
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:13 PM

    As if I believe that, so why are there still so many homeless people in the streets. Its bull&£%t that what it is.

    116
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    Mute Adrian
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:30 PM

    Read a piece in the indo the other day about nama and the state, made me chuckle, something about nama selling property and the state buying it back at a multiple of the price they sold it at. But i guess if you add up the profits and ignore the losses, you’re bound to make wonderful profits, and this is the irish gov and its leprechaun economics.

    134
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    Mute Willy Mc Caul
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:18 PM

    Lies continue from political elite aided by media whilst numbers are massaged to allow more taxes to please EU masters..

    122
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    Mute Dan public
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:06 PM

    Nama on course to make a profit, how coild you not make a profit when you already passed the losses on the loans you bought to the taxpayer. More Clowns, next is the apperance on the late late to tell us the great job they done and then in ten years or so the standard tribunal into the back handers paid to nama officials and friends and family buying assets from nama at massive discounts, then we will have the words it was the best advive we had at the time and it will never happen again ever ever we promise

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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:23 PM

    Social housing stock dries up, what stock are they talking about? joke or what…

    74
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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:33 PM

    @Charles Coughlan: in all honesty, that wasn’t gonna take long…

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    Mute Bill Clay
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:05 PM

    I remember sitting around a conference table in BOI head office in 2010 telling everyone there that nama will prove nothing more than another FF quango and they are not here for the Irish Public’s interests.

    The shock and horror on the faces staring back at me…

    60
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:17 PM

    Free houses for anyone who hasnt worked a day in their life.

    47
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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:42 PM

    @Dave Barrett: have you ever asked someone in a social housing estate if they receive their accommodation for nothing?!! Think about it for a second. Your comment is unfounded and misinformed to say the least. Every society will have a sector of their society they need to assist beyond the general population. Children are involved here. Stop for a minute and think just how jammed the criminal justice system will be if we don’t assist them as a society if their parents can’t. Can you not look outside the box for a split second! !?

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    Mute prop joe
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 7:38 PM

    @Dave Barrett: the bankers and developers who sit in the corporate boxes get free everything. Free loans they dont pay back, free houses free expenses. But you probably think that’s great coz you get a few crumbs from the table.

    17
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    Mute James Carpenter
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:16 PM

    Don’t believe that. If that is the case why are there so many still homeless. Pure bull.

    46
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    Mute Sean
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:35 PM

    @Roger Mee: It depends what you call a profit. In loose terms, if NAMA took over 100bn in assets and paid 20bn to do so and sold them for 30bn that is a profit. Some would argue the property values had recovered and that they should have held out for higher profit esp in relation to the Battersea project. The Northern Ireland debacle didn’t help.

    22
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    Mute prop joe
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 7:42 PM

    @Roger Mee: 70 billion in loans 24 billion intetest. But they claim to make a profit because they wrote off 40 billion day one. I am sick of supporting these developers. Put them into liquidation and force down the price of houses. Every euro that NAMA makes, is a tax on new home buyers.

    18
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    Mute Jack Wardell
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:33 PM

    in the mean time the free housing association flourishes as HAP / Social Welfare tenants minority refuse to vacate units irrespective of determination orders etc leaving genuine landlords who want / need to sell being the housing association for the government. Landlords leaving the market now in droves leaving less units for genuine honest HAP/ Soc Welfare tenants as units now being either sold to vulture funds that will sit on them or owner occupiers.

    30
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    Mute Jonny
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 4:56 PM

    Is this a joke… Nama are too busy repossessing properties, absolutely toxic they are

    21
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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 5:35 PM

    Outrageous! 491 social housing units a year since 2012. Shame on you NAMA. Yeah most of these 40k stock are private enterprise. We’re creating hell for future generations as they will be stuck with the fallout of a very angry cross section of society who end up in hotel rooms and before people make judgements there are children caught up in this nightmare. Children who probably will never see Santa coming to visit them down the chimney of their own home. Totally unforgivable in a society as wealthy as this one.
    Utterly disgusting given the billions they’ve gained from toxic debt.

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    Mute James Carpenter
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 3:15 PM

    As if you believe that. If so why are there so many still homeless. A load of crap

    33
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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Jan 3rd 2019, 11:07 PM

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/09/imf-warns-italy-not-to-breach-eu-spending-rules-in-next-budget

    How can they as Germany tells each country what their budgets are because Germany / Troika control the budgets of all the EU countries that use the Euro as their currency. As the above link shows, so we can’t spend too much as that would effect the budget due to house building?

    4
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