Heroin addict gets eight years for car hi-jack and false imprisonment

A Dublin heroin addict who held a blood-contaminated syringe barrel to a woman’s neck in front of her child has be sentenced to eight years for unlawfully taking her car and other serious offences.

Cathy Ford had parked her car in a multistory lot on Christmas Eve 2008 and turned to face her seven-year-old son in the back when Joe Shannon (aged 38) grabbed her hair from behind and put the syringe barrel on her neck.

He shouted: “Hand over the keys or your son or yourself will get HIV!”

Detective garda Paul Cornish told Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting, that the lady gave up the keys but managed to grab her bag and phone and call gardaí as she watched the thief reverse her car into a pillar and make several circuits of the lot to find the exit.

Det garda Cornish said the little boy, who suffers from asthma, was “very distressed” seeing the thief circle the parking lot because he thought each time the man was coming back for him.

Det Gda Cornish said Shannon later told gardaí he had stolen two €90 perfume boxes from Grafton Street’s Brown Thomas before going to the Royal College of Surgeons Car Park to threaten someone and take their car.

Shannon said he had stolen the perfume to buy two bags of heroin so he would not be sick from withdrawal in front of his own children that Christmas.

Det garda Cornish told Mr Guerin that Shannon accelerated Ms Ford’s stolen car down the parking lot’s narrow in-ramp, sped toward oncoming traffic en route to Kevin Street, broke red lights at a Camden Street junction and crashed through a nearby flat complex barrier, hitting an elderly lady’s parked car.

Shannon abandoned the stolen car, which was subsequently written off, but was caught moments later on foot.

Det garda Cornish said he and his colleagues had responded quickly to Ms Ford’s call and they spotted Shannon before he had left the carpark.

Gardaí found the syringe barrel containing traces of old blood in Shannon’s pocket and a hatchet wrapped in a sleeping bag in the stolen crashed car. Det garda Cornish confirmed this hatchet was never used in the incident.

He said Ms Ford’s victim impact statement described how Shannon had “destroyed” Christmas for her and her family.

She said she had suffered a financial loss of €9,000 between the car and medical bills for her and her son, was unable to work as a taxi driver after the incident and was very ill on Christmas Day.

She said her husband suffered depression after the family subsequently found themselves in debt.

She estimated in the statement, read out in court by Mr Guerin, that it would take five years for her family to recover from the incident.

Shannon, of Oakley Road, Ranelagh, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawfully taking Ms Ford’s car, damaging property and dangerous driving.

He also pleaded guilty to guilty to trespass, false imprisonment and robbery of a Polish woman in her Smithfield Market home in the early hours of September 1, 2007.

Shannon has 38 previous convictions including a 1998 nine-year robbery sentence and a seven-year sentence for false imprisonment and robbery in 2004.

Detective garda Denis Ellard said the woman in the Smithfield apartment woke up to find Shannon staring at her from the bedroom door.

She said he seemed shocked to see her and said: “I’m a robber, I didn’t know anyone was home”, before he tied her hands loosely with rope from a pair of her own trousers.

Shannon told her he wouldn’t hurt her but needed to steal her things so he could get money for drugs. He told her she would be able to remove the rope with her teeth once he had escaped.

Det garda Ellard said Shannon took €20 cash, the woman’s bank card PIN which was later used to steal €490 from her account, her camera and a €700 laptop.

He tied the woman’s legs with black tape and made her hop to the bathroom where he promised he would phone gardaí to the let her out once he had escaped.

The woman told gardaí that Shannon kissed her forehead and asked her name before he left.

Det garda Ellard said the woman in the Smithfield apartment freed herself within minutes of the intruder leaving, called for assistance and tried several times to cancel her bank card on the phone.

Gardaí traced the offence to Shannon using the apartment block’s CCTV and footage of him withdrawing the woman’s cash in Ranelagh.

Det garda Ellard agreed with Ms Caroline Biggs SC, defending, that the flat occupant had been able to free herself quickly and that Shannon had asked her if the bonds were too tight when he was securing her hands.

Judge Joseph Matthews sentenced Shannon to consecutive sentences of eight years with the last three suspended.

He had previously noted that heroin had “destroyed everything” in Shannon’s life and that his self destruction had a “devastating effect” on his family and innocent members of the public.

Judge Matthews accepted that a report from clinical psychologist, Brian Glanville, stated that Shannon was motivated to beat this addiction that had previously taken over his life.

“The report shows that there is some hope for his (Shannon’s) future should he deal with his addiction,” Judge Matthews said before he also disqualified Shannon from driving for five years.