A lady was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for stealing a cab after strangling the driver with the seat belt and briefly knocking him out, reports Breaking News.
According to testimony given in court, Donna Dineen, 28, then pulled the driver out of the car and kicked or beat him in the face before taking off in the taxi.
Since then, the victim, a man in his late 60s, has not operated a cab.
Dineen, formerly of Charlemont Terrace, Wellington Road, Cork, entered a guilty plea to charges of wrongful car seizure and assault causing hurt at Phoenix Park, Dublin, on July 26, 2023, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, reports Breaking News.
Her co-accused, 38-year-old Gillian Byrne, who is presently residing in a hostel, entered a guilty plea to the charges of unlawfully seizing a car and assault causing hurt on the same day and will be sentenced next year.
Detective Garda Mark Reilly said the court during a prior hearing that Byrne called 999 right away to inform the gardaà about the crime and her involvement in it.
Judge Orla Crowe postponed Byrne’s sentencing hearing on Thursday and mandated the preparation of a probation report for sentencing on February 28 of the following year, reports Breaking News.
Dineen was sentenced by Judge Crowe on Wednesday. Before leaving the victim “battered and bruised on the ground,” Dineen, the main actor, drove off in the man’s cab, according to her.
Despite giving Dineen a five-year, three-month term, she stated that she wanted to give her an opportunity to change her ways. She imposed stringent requirements, such as Dineen being under the Probation Service’s monitoring for a full year, in order to postpone the remaining nine months of the sentence, reports Breaking News.
The taxi driver picked up Dineen and Byrne outside the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street at 5.40am on the day in question, according to Det Gda Reilly, who spoke to prosecutor Marc Murphy BL.
After climbing into the rear of the cab, the women pointed the driver in the direction of Phoenix Park.
After the women pointed him in the direction of the magazine fort in the park, the driver turned the car around and informed the gardaà he had “a bad feeling,” reports Breaking News.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
