A teenager has been jailed after entering a room occupied by a woman and young children in emergency homeless accommodation while carrying a three-foot machete.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard CCTV captured a muffled scream before a woman fled a room also occupied by her young children, followed by the teenager carrying a three-foot machete, reports The Mirror.
Ormonde, of St Joseph’s Way, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to trespass with a knife and possession of cocaine at Broomfield House, Drumcondra on 7 December 2025, and was on temporary release at the time of the offences, having been returned to custody to finish his sentence.
Ormonde was apprehended by residents of the homeless accommodation and gardaà were called, reports The Mirror.
Passing sentence on Friday 10 July, Judge Dara Hayes said trespass with a knife through a room occupied by women and children was a serious offence that would have an adverse impact on them, and said the amount of cocaine found on Ormonde was also significant.
Judge Hayes said the court would have been inclined, given Ormonde’s age, to seek the assistance of the Probation Service, but Ormonde had indicated he wished his sentence to be finalised immediately, reports The Mirror.
The judge imposed a sentence of two and a half years and suspended the final six months on conditions, saying the suspended portion was to provide some incentive for rehabilitation.
The events occurred at Broomfield House, emergency homeless accommodation in the grounds of the former Regency Hotel, now known as The Bonnington Hotel, which houses 276 people of all nationalities including children in 40 apartments on behalf of Dublin City Council, reports The Mirror.
An investigating garda told Justin McQuade BL, prosecuting, that when gardaà arrived Ormonde was sitting on a chair with two residents of the accommodation, covered in blood, and gardaà initially made welfare enquiries to ensure he was not seriously injured.
The court heard Ormonde had entered Broomfield House, which had previously been interconnected to the hotel and was accessible through a fire escape, through an occupied room, reports The Mirror.
It came to the attention of two men residing there with their families that there was a man with a knife in the building, with the machete described as being three feet long.
The men took action and removed Ormonde — who had blood on his hands and tracksuit — to a bathroom area and took the knife from him, with Ormonde having placed the knife inside his trousers after leaving the first room, reports The Mirror.
Gardaà searched Ormonde on their arrival and found cocaine valued at €1,400 on him.
Ormonde was arrested and interviewed, telling gardaà he had gone to The Bonnington Hotel to meet a female and had the cocaine on him for a party, and that he had a hotel key card for a room, reports The Mirror.
He said once he entered Broomfield House he was unfamiliar with the area and could not find a way out.
CCTV showed him entering the hotel and going into a lift, with two men following him to the lift and preventing the door from closing, at which point Ormonde produced the machete and the men stepped back, reports The Mirror.
The lift door closed and CCTV next picked up Ormonde in Broomfield House, where a muffled scream was heard and a female exited the room, followed by Ormonde who placed the machete down his trousers, before he was seen roaming the corridors until residents brought him downstairs.
His 62 previous convictions include 20 for the misuse of drugs, eight for theft and public order offences, and the garda told the court that Ormonde is part of a grouping involved in an ongoing feud, reports The Mirror.
There were no victim impact statements before the court.
The garda agreed with Keith Spencer BL, defending, that the blood was Ormonde’s own, no one else was injured, and that Ormonde told gardaà he had come under attack, which was why he entered the apartment, with the garda also agreeing he was generally cooperative and easy to deal with, reports The Mirror.
Mr Spencer said Ormonde had family support and his mother had tried to keep him on the straight and narrow, and that his adolescence was blighted by a lack of education and the presence of drugs.
He said his client was still very young and hoped to carve out a path for himself in the future, reports The Mirror.
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