12 Boy gets 9 months for stabbing of female victim
A YOUTH who stabbed a woman during a crime spree after he arranged meetings via Facebook marketplace with six people to buy top-ofthe-range phones has received a nine-month custodial sentence.
The boy (16), who left a trail of victims around west Dublin, pleaded guilty to the assault, theft and robbery charges.
He met his victims over five weeks last year through the social media platform’s items-for-sale app.
The boy, who was 15 and smoking cannabis at the time, repeatedly used a false name during his online interactions to set up his victims.
Judge Shalom Binchy heard at the Dublin Children’s Court that on February 7, a man arranged through the social media app to sell his iPhone 13 valued at €750.
During their conversation, the teen “grabbed the phone and made off running”. He was followed to his home, where gardai also found €5 worth of cannabis.
Screen ARMED gardai saved the life of a kidnap victim they rescued from a car on Ireland’s busiest motorway, officers now believe.
Sources said detectives probing Thursday’s abduction that began in Belfast and ended on Dublin’s orbital motorway are satisfied the businessman was not being held for ransom – and the gang that held him was planning to murder him.
A source said: “This was classified as a threat to life operation.”
That’s a Garda operation only implemented when officers have intelligence a murder is about to take place – and send heavily armed gardai to prevent it.
Detectives were liaising with officers from the PSNI over the abduction – and were also questioning four men who were arrested during the dramatic operation.
Armed officers stopped a car on the M50 close to Dublin Airport then rescued the businessman who was allegedly being held inside it at gunpoint.
Sources say gardai are working on the theory that the businessman, who was previously involved in the sporting world, was targeted for death.
A source said: “We do not believe this was a kidnap for ransom.
“We believe someone had it in for him and he was taken away to be either killed or seriously assaulted.
“There is no doubt that he was in grave danger when he was rescued.” Four suspects – including three men with addresses in Galway and Ronanstown in west Dublin – were arrested by the Garda Armed Support Unit when the businessman was rescued at around 10pm on Thursday
near the M50 Ballymun exit.
Gangland
They were being held under anti gangland legislation last night and can be detained for up to a week.
The victim, who is in his mid 30s, was recovering from his ordeal last night. It is believed the drama began when the businessman was allegedly attacked and kidnapped at gunpoint in Belfast and bungled into a white
BMW jeep yesterday afternoon.
A family member saw what was happening and raised the alarm with the PSNI.
Officers later suspected the car had gone over the border at Newry and contacted the Garda for assistance.
It’s understood the BMW was then spotted going past Dundalk in Co Louth – and Garda HQ put out an internal alert for officers to look out for the vehicle.
Sources say an unarmed roads policing unit car was on patrol on the M50 when its automatic number plate recognition system notified officers that the car was in front of them.
The gardai were aware at least one gun was in the car and called for armed back up – while following the BMW at a safe distance.
Members of the Armed Support Unit raced to the scene at the M50 at Junction 4 Ballymun and forced the car to a halt.
They rescued the victim – and arrested four men in the car.
A gardai spokesman said: “All four individuals are currently detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007, at Garda Stations in the Dublin Region.
“A fifth adult male occupant of the car, who was reported missing from Belfast, was found safe and well.
“An Garda Siochana continue to liaise closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”