Drunk and stoned teen had ‘no idea’ what he was doing
Joseph O’Toole, 19, is to be sentenced later at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to give him time to complete an alcohol rehabilitation programme.
The court heard O’Toole and a co-accused beat up and robbed the woman just half an hour after they attacked and robbed a man in his late 60s on the same stretch of road.
O’Toole, with an address at The Nurseries, Mulhuddart, Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery on Church Rd on October 19, 2012.
The victim, Isabella Szyrajew, told gardaí she had been cycling along Church Road with several shopping bags on the handlebars of her bike when two men approached who seemed to be in good spirits.
One of the men stopped her from cycling and said: “What’s in your bag?” before grabbing the bike and throwing her to the ground.
She was kicked in the face, head, stomach, and back about six times and dragged along the ground by her rucksack, before a female passerby stopped to help her.
Ms Szyrajew said one of her attackers seemed to be stoned and was in his late teens with short black hair and “wild eyes”. This man was later identified as O’Toole.
Half an hour before this attack, Fred Mulligan had been walking along Church Rd when two men approached, one holding a bicycle.
Mr Mulligan said the men stopped short of him and the bike seemed to fall, but they picked it up and walked past him. Next thing he knew, he felt a bang on the head like he had been hit by the bicycle and he was knocked to the ground.
The men started kicking him and shouting “give me your money”, so he gave them €100, which he had to pay for insurance the following day.
O’Toole initially denied both attacks and said he wouldn’t hit a woman. He eventually confessed and said he felt very bad because he thought the second victim was a man.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring adjourned the matter to see if O’Toole can progress his rehabilitation through to the aftercare stage of the treatment.
The case was listed for mention on July 30.
