Drug addict gets six years for attempted robbery and assault

A drug addict has been sentenced to six years in prison with two suspended for trying to rob a shop with a replica gun and attacking a foreign national.

Alan Jackson (aged 23), of Shanid Road, Harolds Cross was on bail for attempting to rob the Spar shop in Blackrock when he viciously beat a foreign national after trying to rob his phone and wallet.

Jackson pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at Spar Shop, Blackrock November 20, 2007 and attempted robbery and assault of an Egyptian man at Castleroad Avenue, Rathmines February 26, 2008.

Detective Garda Stephen Niland said Karen Doherty, a long-time employee, became suspicious of Jackson shortly after he entered the Spar and watched him closely as he walked around the shop.

As another employee was at the counter, Ms Doherty was standing behind the man. She saw him pull out a replica handgun and she said to the other employee, “don’t worry, it’s not real.”

She then pushed Jackson who fell over the counter, dropping the gun which broke apart on the ground. He got up and ran out of the store as Ms Doherty gave chase. He was stopped by two people on the street, one of them a traffic warden, who held him until gardaí arrived.

Det Gda Niland told prosecuting counsel, Mr Cathal Murphy BL, that Jackson admitted his role and was very co-operative. He said that, despite her bravery, Ms Doherty and the other employee were extremely upset by the experience.

Garda Kenneth Hogan said on February 26, 2008, Jackson was in Rathmines and approached an Egyptian man, Mr Hammed Gadala, and asked him for directions to Crumlin.

Jackson then raised a wine bottle he was carrying and demanded Mr Gadala’s phone and wallet. The victim told him he had nothing to give before another man grabbed him from behind as Jackson tried to hit him with the bottle. He missed and smashed it on the ground.

As Mr Gadala was being held he was hit “ten or fifteen times” by Jackson. He fell to the ground and cut himself on the broken bottle before Gda Hogan came on the scene after hearing the victim’s cries for help.

He was arrested and interviewed but denied trying to rob the man. He said he had asked Mr Gadala for a cigarette and said a fight broke out when he responded, “you Irish are all the same, always drunk.”

He told gardaí: “I would probably apologise if I saw him” and admitted he should have walked away when he was refused a cigarette.

Gda Hogan said Jackson was on bail at the time for the Spar robbery and that he had 26 previous convictions including several for assault.

Defence counsel, Mr Luigi Rea BL, said his client was addicted to alcohol and drugs and was the father of a three-year-old child. He said Jackson had asked him to apologise to the court for his “outrageous behaviour.”

Judge Katherine Delahunt suspended the final two years of the sentence to give him “some light at the end of the tunnel” and backdated his prison term to when he entered custody ten months ago.