Inmate in prison riot sentenced to consecutive term

A MAN serving a 12-year sentence for attempted murder has received a consecutive jail term for his role in a Mountjoy Prison riot that left staff injured and caused €142,000 damage to a recreation area.

Detective Sergeant Karl Murray revealed that Jonathan Dunne, aged 26, of Windmill Park, Crumlin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at the station despite no CCTV footage connecting him to the incident.

The detective sergeant agreed with Iseult O’Malley, defending, that another inmate with a similar name had been involved in the offence and this confusion “may have permeated into the prosecution case” had her client elected for trial.

Det Sgt Murray further agreed that Dunne’s plea to the 2007 attempted murder meant that matter never went to trial.

Dunne pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder at Mountjoy Prison on July 12, 2008.

Judge Desmond Hogan imposed a three-year sentence with the final 18 months suspended to run consecutive to the attempted murder sentence, which is up in 2016.

Det Sgt Murray told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, that about 70 or 80 inmates got involved in the violence, which broke out in the D-wing basement recreation area because of the recently introduced search procedures at the prison.