Taxi-driver assault case: Sentencing adjourned

Sentencing of a man whose savage drugs- and alcohol-fuelled attack has left a taxi driver living on disability allowance has been adjourned again while the judge considers psychiatric reports.

Denis Creagh (aged 25) of Coolock Village, Coolock had consumed cannabis and alcohol before he launched his vicious attack on Mr Terry Moloney after calling him a "filthy pig" because he was not happy with his fare.

He kicked Mr Maloney in the head and stomach outside St Brendan’s Church in Coolock. When the victim came around after falling to the ground unconscious, he found Creagh leaning over him and biting into his cheek.

Creagh did not tear any flesh, but the force of the bite cracked the teeth in Mr Maloney’s mouth. When Creagh saw him get up from the ground, he returned and punched him again. The incident was witnessed by Fr Frank Corry of St Brendan’s Church.

Mr Maloney, who suffered a fractured skull and had 12 teeth knocked out, was detained for three weeks in Beamount Hospital and has not worked as a taxi driver since. He is now on disability allowance.

A medical report stated that serious harm had been caused to him and that he temporarily lost some of his brain function.

Creagh pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to intentionally or recklessly causing Mr Moloney serious harm on June 12, 2004.

Creagh told Judge Delahunt: "That night should never have happened and it came at a time when I was not myself." He said his stepfather, who he had thought was his biological father until he was 12 years old, had died three weeks previously.

"I don’t think Mr Moloney or anyone deserves that. I apologise to him, his family and friends," he added.

Creagh has also pleaded guilty to theft with an accomplice of two mobile phones, €100 and a wallet from psychiatric patients’ private rooms at St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin on September 12, 2006.

Garda Paul Cornish told prosecuting counsel, Mr Ronan Kennedy BL, that Creagh acted as a "look-out" while his accomplice and stole items from patient’s rooms before fleeing when confronted by a nurse.

The pair were arrested shortly afterwards after being ejected from a nearby pub and staff found several phones, MP3 players and wallets left behind by them.

Creagh told gardaí that he was planning to sell the phones to buy heroin to feed his addiction.

Judge Delahunt adjourned sentence to a later date after she was told that Mr Moloney was attending a psychiatrist since 2001/2002, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Dr Hemal Thakore told Mr Kennedy that although Mr Moloney had been treated for schizophrenia he had not been displaying any symptoms of the disease since March 2006.

He said Mr Moloney returned for treatment following the assault and was diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder but he was still not showing any psychotic symptoms related to schizophrenia.

Dr Thakore said Mr Maloney returned in September that same year and the previous symptoms of schizophrenia had returned.

He concluded that even though these symptoms developed some three months after the assault, they "were most likely to have developed because of his distress concerning the assault".

Dr Thakore did not accept a suggestion from defence counsel, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC (with Ms Majella Lynch BL) that if the assault had directly affected the reoccurrence of these symptoms they would have manifested themselves much closer to the time of the incident.

He agreed that there was a possibility that they were not related but in his opinion the reoccurrence of Mr Moloney's illness was due to both the assault and the stress of having to write a victim impact report for it.

Judge Delahunt was told by Ms Kennedy (defence counsel, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC (with Ms Majella Lynch BL) that Creagh was devastated when he learned his stepfather was not his biological father. He was equally affected by the man’s death from cancer and had to take a month off work.

Ms Kennedy said Creagh’s mother threw him out of the family home shortly after the assault because of his drug abuse but he was now drug free after undergoing a detoxification programme while in custody.

Detective Garda Shane Davern told Mr Kennedy (prosecuting counsel, Mr Ronan Kennedy BL) that Mr Moloney had driven Creagh, his girlfriend and another man who were all described as being "intoxicated to some degree" to Coolock from a pub and asked for a €12 fare.

Creagh’s girlfriend gave him €5 but the two men claimed that neither of them had the rest of the fare.

Mr Moloney told them to "come on" because he was "very, very busy". He then noticed that the girl was trying to get out of the taxi but there was a problem with her door so he got out to help her.

Creagh got out as well and called him a "filthy pig" before he launched his vicious attack on Mr Maloney.

Det garda Davern said Creagh was not at home when he called but he later contacted Creagh on his mobile and arranged to meet him. He admitted kicking Mr Moloney once in the head while he was on the ground, kicking him in the face, biting and punching him.

He said he remembered looking at the taximeter and thinking "that was too much". He said he told Mr Maloney he was not paying that and handed him €10 but that the victim replied "that’s it" and jumped out of the car. He thought there was "going to be aggro" and claimed that the taxi driver went for him first.

He said he knew he had "gone over the top" and apologised for the "grief" he caused. He did not go out looking for a fight and said that he normally would not do "that kind of thing".

Det garda Davern said Creagh had three convictions prior to this matter and 34 convictions since then which were all dealt with in the District Court and included public order, road traffic and drug offences.

Det garda Davern told Ms Kennedy that he did not realise Creagh had a drug problem since he was 14 years old and added that he denied it when asked specifically during garda interview if he had any addictions.

He accepted that Creagh had taken a considerable amount of alcohol that night as well as cannabis.