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A MAN HAS been jailed for six years for assaults on his 75-year-old neighbour in his home and on a 17-year-old female a year earlier.
During a roadside attack on the N11 in July 2018, Dean Quigley (23) punched a young woman to the face, pulled her hair and continued to punch her while she was on the ground.
The following year he twice broke into his neighbour’s apartment. During the second attack Quigley assaulted him, telling his victim he would return and kill him if he told anyone what had happened.
The man’s daughter found him when she visited five days later and he was brought to hospital where he remained for a number of weeks. He was treated for a bleed on the brain and this left him at an increased risk of stroke, ligature marks to his neck and severe bruising to his chest.
Quigley, of Temple Road, Blackrock, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to the woman at Stillorgan Road on 5 July 2018.
He also pleaded guilty to entering the 75-year-old man’s home as a trespasser and committing criminal damage on 7 July, 2019 and entering his home as a trespasser and assaulting him on 11 October 2019.
Judge Karen O’Connor imposed concurrent sentences of two years for the assault on the woman and two years for the July burglary. She imposed a consecutive sentence of six years for the second burglary and she suspended the final two years on condition that he engage with alcohol addiction treatment programmes.
The court heard that in July 2019 Quigley was drunk when he had kicked and hit the man’s door after being refused entry.The man left to tell a neighbour what had happened and Quigley entered his home through the open door, taking a knife from the man’s kitchen.
Gardaí were alerted and arrived to find Quigley in an intoxicated state.
In a statement the man said he felt Quigley must have been waiting for him the second time in October 2019 as he returned home from dinner with his daughter. He said Quigley pushed him inside, telling the man he had “put me in prison”.
He was punched by Quigley to the head, stomach and back and held in a headlock. The man said he thought he was going to die during the assault.
“I don’t think I will ever get over this,” said the man in his victim impact statement. “I will now be in fear forever. I don’t feel safe in my home.”
“I cannot express how much fear I was in,” said the man. He said he believed Quigley’s threat and really thought he would come back again.
He said he did not contact anyone and lay in bed until his daughter came five days later. He said he was in constant fear of something else happening and suffered with his nerves.
Quigley was on bail for the first burglary at the time of the second offence.
Detective Garda Robert Clifford told Garrett McCormack BL, prosecuting, that in the early hours of July 5, 2018 the woman had been walking along the N11 with Quigley.
She said they had an argument which turned physical and Quigley punched her a number of times in the face and pulled her hair. He dragged her to the ground where he continued to punch her.
In her victim impact statement, which was read to the court, the young woman recalled wishing for a passing car to stop and help. She said she never wanted to feel that helplessness and fear again.
She attended at a garda station in May 2019 to make a complaint and gave gardaí photographs of her injuries which included a black eye, hair pulled out and bruising around her neck.
Detective Garda Clifford said Quigley was charged, brought before the courts and pleaded guilty in early course.
The woman outlined in her victim impact statement that she had suffered a “huge decline” in her mental health as a result of the assault. She continues to suffer anxiety and fear.
Quigley has 14 previous convictions including possession of knives or articles and making a threat to kill or cause serious harm.
Detective Garda Clifford with agreed with Marc Murphy BL, defending, that when he was sober and not abusing substances, Quigley was quite civil.
He agreed that Quigley had gone to a garda station the day after he was interviewed and tried to make admissions but he was not in a fit state to be interviewed.
Murphy told Judge O’Connor that Quigley was using his time in custody quite positively. He said Quigley instructed he was now drug free and was reflecting on what the future may hold away from the cycle of drugs and antisocial behaviour.
He told the court that his client had made further progress in custody and asked the court to take into account the positive steps he has made in relation to his mental health and addiction issues
He said Quigley had written a letter to the young woman expressing remorse. He asked the court to take a “holistic approach” and leave him some light at the end of the tunnel.
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More proof of the success of this government. Begrudgers, what do you think? Carry on sponging anyhow
Joe Bet…. So the government can control the weather now!?! Ask them for some nice blueshirt skies next summer so….
Joe – have you noticed that the debt in this country is forever growing and the number of young working people is ever decreasing? I do not blame this government for all of it, but to bluster about their success is laughable.
Bluster
I think we have to thank ‘The Gathering’ promotion for most of the success this summer. Ok the weather helped but who books a holiday to Ireland with the expectation of decent weather?
I think, though, we should be fairly cautious about these results as there is the potential of ‘The Gathering’ being a double edged sword…. Anyone who might have been planning on coming to Ireland in the next couple of years may have decided to come early. I don’t think we’ll have as favourable numbers in the next couple of years (speaking from experience of our ‘gathering’ party and the feedback from my rellies from abroad who came to visit early)
It is up to the government to capitalise on The Gathering into next year . It’s also important for the hotels to keep their prices competitive otherwise people will stop coming . We have a load of hotel/ guesthouse etc beds to fill
Prob all the civil serpents and other hangers on that were here on all expenses paid jollies for the EU presidency.
The weather might have something to do with it
We don’t really book holidays to Ireland for the weather.
So true… We book them in Spain..
Why don’t we do something like the Israelis were everybody of Irish Heritage under the age of 26 would get a free trip?
They have money in Israel.
All that would be paid for is flights for say a 2 week stay. I’m sure that the government would still make a profit!
Did Israel pay for the Palestinian people ‘removed’ from their homelands to return too?
Actually they did.
No waaay! I stand corrected.
Good man jm. And them silly arabs arguing for right to return
They were given good prices for their property at the time. Once the Israelis actually made something of their arid desert land through irrigation and industry the Arabs suddenly realised they got a raw deal. Sad but true.
I must read up on the consequences of the Balfour Declaration again.
You’re a well informed chap – even those aambassadors of truthful reporting, the israelis dont say that – you should remind them. And that traitor michael collins traded northern ireland for some bubble gum fairy beans. True story!!! s
Here’s some facts for you:
In the aftermath of WW2 Jews were paying between $1000 and 1100 per acre in Palestine for mostly arid land. By comparison, the price of land in rich soiled Iowa was 110 per acre.
Most of the land was not owned by Palestinians, in fact by 1946 Arabs owned only 20% of the land, 75% of whom did not live there. Jews owned 10% and the British owned 70% most of which was arid desert land.
Mostof the Jews in Israel were in fact kicked out of Arab countries, in fact their property losses were ten times that of Arabs in Palestine.
Up until 1979 Israel had a policy of repayment or replacement for anyone who could prove his claim.
These are the facts and you can read up on them if you want instead of swallowing pro Palestinian propaganda whole and accepting it as fact!
OK
This is becoming somewhat personal. The whole Israeli-Palestinian “issue” is very complex, and very sad. Both sides have suffered. My knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs is limited, but I know this much: the establishment of “ownership” of land is not clear cut. To compare values of land with Iowa or anywhere else is not a relative assessment. The value of land will always depend on supply and demand. In relation to the distribution of ‘ownership’ in the context of our commentary, the word in itself is a provocative one. The term “occupation” is now more commonly accepted.
I daresay, none of us is equipped with the lexicon, the objectivity or the nous to resolve the mess that exists in the West Bank. Let’s leave it at that, and be thankful that Ireland is a relatively safe destination for the majority of its inhabitants, and, for those who chose to spend time here.
This started as me merely using Israel as an example of one way we could connect with our diaspora and boost visitor numbers. Obviously people didn’t agree with my suggestion given all the red thumbs, which I can accept, but it was you who made it political. Then you asked me if Israel paid Palestinians to be removed and I said they did and later backed up my statement as many others somehow felt I was lying. The West Bank situation today is far from ideal, maybe it would have been resolved decades ago had the Arab nations agreed to accept the Israeli invitation to discuss terms. Of course the Arabs refused to enter any sort of dialogue with the Israelis. I think originally Israeli only wanted to make a demilitarised buffer zone of the West Bank in the aftermath of the illegal Jordanian attack on its borders, whilst returning the West Bank into Arab hands. It seems like a fair compromise to me.
The weather played a big role in it this year… Lots of counteies like spain didn’t get the best of summers so they came here to holiday instead…. I took my weeks holiday first week of july and it was so nice to actually stay in your own country and soak up the sun instead of having to head to the airport find your passport and land in a country where your not familar with the language! The gathering played a part in it maybe but the weather did have a big impact kn it..
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