Teenager was so high on drugs he couldn’t recall hi-jacking

A LOCAL teenager who was so high on tablets he couldn’t fully recall hi-jacking a taxi or assaulting the driver has been sentenced to four years.

Lee Smyth (19) told gardaí in interview that he just wanted to get home to Drogheda that night from Dublin City. He said he had no money and no idea how to get home when he got into the taxi on O’Connell Street.

“All I wanted was to get home. I never meant it to get so bad,” Smyth told officers following his arrest months later. He added that it had been a wake-up call and he hadn’t taken drugs since.

Garda Brian Healy told Elva Duffy BL, prosecuting that the driver, Eric Byrne, was attacked by Smyth and his co-accused when he arrived at the destination. Smyth, the back-seat passenger, grabbed the man and the pair tried to take his keys from him.

Mr Byrne got out of the vehicle to find something from the boot to defend himself with, while the two males tried to start the car.

Mr Byrne walked away and called the gardaí but Smyth came running at him and began kicking and punching him. The pair ultimately took off in the car which was discovered five hours later burnt out in Drogheda.

Smyth of Beechwood Drive, Drogheda, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm and the unlawful seizure of a vehicle at Clongriffin train station on September 20, 2016.

His 29 previous convictions include trespass, possession of drugs, criminal damage, assault and aggravated burglary.

Judge Martin Nolan suspended the final 18 months of the sentence on strict conditions including that Smyth engage with the Probation Service upon his release.

He took into account evidence that Smyth had “good hope for reform” as he had taken advantages of services currently available to him in prison.

Judge Nolan praised the work of the gardaí in catching Smyth and noted that he co-operated with their investigation. He described it as a serious crime with a “high level of violence”.

Gda Healy said Smyth was identified through fingerprints left on the car and after gardaí looked at CCTV footage at various points from their pick-up to the train station. The teenagers were also captured on CCTV when they stopped the car en-route to Drogheda to change a tyre.

Gda Healy accepted a submission from Grainne O’Neill BL, defending, that her client had instructions to apologise wholeheartedly for what he did and the effect on Mr Byrne.He agreed that Smyth gave as fulsome account as he could because he had problems with his memory having taken a large amount of tablets.

Ms O’Neill told Judge Nolan that her client, who is in custody serving a sentence from a different offence, had been working towards becoming an enhanced prisoner.

Counsel said reports before the court stated that Smyth had a desire to change, was very well liked in prison and was benefiting from programmes in custody.

“He is a young man showing a willingness to co-operate and turn his life around,” Ms O’Neill said .