Two-year sentence for man who planted hoax bombs

A Dublin man has been jailed for two years after he planted two hoax bombs in the city centre causing residents to be evacuated and roads to be cordoned off for a total of five and half hours.

Dwayne Barry (aged 22) of Tom Kelly Flats, Charlemont Street, used “Pringles” tubes, screws , nails, drill bits, copper wire, torn black plastic bags and various types of masking tape to make the tubular devices.

There were no timing mechanisms or explosive material in either tube.

They were placed under the wheel of a vehicle in a car park attached to an office block on Richmond Place and under another car parked outside a hostel, next to a second hostel and a block of flats, on Charlemont Street.

The gardaí were alerted as soon as the devices were detected and the army was called in each time to carry out a controlled explosion.

In the second incident a robotic device was used to x-ray the suspected bomb before any decision was made on what to do with it.

After his arrest, Barry took full responsibility and told gardaí it had been a prank because he wanted to see what would happen.

Barry pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of possession of a “Pringles” tube with wires protruding from it in an effort to make it look like an incendiary device on September 16 and October 3, 2008.

He also pleaded guilty to placing the objects at Richmond Place and Charlemont Street on the same dates.

He had 62 previous convictions, which included a five years sentence with the final two years suspended for possession of 75,000 euro worth of heroin for sale or supply. He has also been convicted of robbery, criminal damage, road traffic offences and burglary.

Judge Patricia Ryan said that the offences had caused “great inconvenience and fear in the neighbourhoods and to the residents of the flats and customers of the hostels”.

She said a letter from Barry outlined the efforts he had made to rehabilitate since his imprisonment on the drug charge.

Judge Ryan said she had taken into account Barry’s plea of guilty and admissions to gardaí before she sentenced him to two years in prison, which she backdated to when he was first remanded there.

Garda Joanne McCormack told Ms Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, that Barry’s fingerprints were found on both devices and his house was placed under surveillance on October 21, 2008.

A garda spotted an item being thrown from his flat and a subsequent search of his home revealed a toolbox, which was believed to be linked to the construction of the hoax bombs.

He later attended the garda station with his mother where he made full admissions in relation to the hoax bomb placed at the hostel.

Barry returned to the station a number of days later to complain that he had been assaulted when he was questioned in relation to the first hoax bomb.

Detective Garda Terry Gleeson told Ms Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, that a staff member of accountancy firm on Richmond Place, noticed a suspicious item under the wheel of his car.

It was tubular with wires coming out of it and was covered in masking tape.

The gardaí were called and the building was evacuated and Richmond Place was closed off.

The army arrived and a controlled explosion of the device confirmed it was a hoax.

The street had been closed off for two and half hours.

Garda Joanne McCormack said that three weeks later another suspicious tubular device was discovered under a guest’s vehicle at the Sancta Maria Hostel on Charlemont Street shortly after 8pm.

The gardaí and army were called in and the hostel, as well as an adjacent hostel and a block of flats were evacuated. There were 69 guests in the two hostels and 30 residents in the flats.

The army used a robotic device to examine the suspected bomb before a controlled explosion was carried out and it was discovered it was a hoax.

The guests and residents were allowed back into their respective buildings three hours later.

Gda McCormack agreed with Mr Gerry O’Brien SC, defending, that a person had since been charged with assaulting Barry.

She accepted that his co-accused, who was a juvenile at the time, was jailed for two years after he admitted to making calls in relation to the hoax bombs.

Mr O’Brien said his client had a 20-month-old child, whom he still has not met.

He said he had since made “substantial progress” in prison and is on a drug free wing.