‘Menace to society’ jailed for tourist attack

A ‘menace to society’ who robbed and assaulted a tourist in Temple Bar hours after they arrived in Ireland has been jailed for four years and nine months.

Glen Duff, 36, of Doon Court, Poppintree, Dublin 11, appeared before Judge Martin Nolan in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of assault causing harm in Temple Bar on two separate dates.

Garda Séamus Egan told barrister Sinéad McMullan, prosecuting, Duff was involved in a robbery in Temple Bar on April 17, 2022.

The injured man was socialising in Temple Bar at around 1.30am when a woman approached him and began speaking with him. CCTV footage played to the court shows Duff and another man approaching. One of the men kicked the victim in the head, before they wrestled him to the ground. They kicked and stamped on his head before pulling his wallet, containing €300, from his hand.

The man attended hospital with concussion symptoms and said in a victim impact statement he still has difficulties with his memory and concentration.

Duff was well known to gardaí and was identified through the CCTV footage. He was charged on May 22, 2023.

Garda Paul Cummings told Ms McMullan that Duff was involved in another robbery along with an assault causing harm while he was on bail for that incident. Duff robbed a newly arrived American tourist in Temple Bar on June 23, 2023.

The man left a pub just after midnight and was sitting on the street alone when a woman approached him. She spoke to him for a few moments before Duff and another man approached. They attacked him and knocked him unconscious. CCTV showed them going through his pockets. At one point the man regained consciousness, and they resumed their attack.

The robbers took his wallet which had his passport and driving licence inside. Duff was again identified through CCTV. He was charged, arrested and pleaded guilty on November 6, 2023.

In a victim impact statement handed in to the court, the man said he was afraid to go to hospital because he thought he would have to pay a large medical expense.

When sentencing Duff to six years, Judge Nolan said: ‘I hope he changes his life and that he will no longer be a menace to society...’

He suspended the final 15 months on strict conditions ‘to aid his rehabilitation and his return to society’.