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"Decent lad" got "carried away" during Jobstown protest and threw rock through garda car window
Summary
In 2014, Dylan Collins, then 19, threw a rock at the rear window of a Garda car during a water‑charges protest in Tallaght. He admitted the act, citing that he was "carried away" by the protest's heat and that he had no intention to harm anyone. Collins, a father of two from Bawnlea Green, had previously pleaded guilty to criminal damage to a marked Hyundai Garda car on 15 November 2014. The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, hearing the incident at about 4 pm, noted that the rock was thrown roughly 20 metres from the moving vehicle, potentially endangering the Gardaí inside. Judge Martin Nolan, recognising Collins' remorse and the fact that he had never intended to injure, imposed a fully suspended sentence of two and a half years, deeming imprisonment unfair. The court also recorded that Collins had 39 prior convictions, all for road‑traffic offences following the 2014 incident.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: "Decent lad" got "carried away" during Jobstown protest and threw rock through garda car window. Charges or matters: the criminal damage of a marked Hyundai garda car at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght on November 15, 2014. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- November 15, 2014 Incident
- 2018-01-18 Publication
Why: Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Collins told gardaí on arrest that he threw the rock "because everyone else was" but that he accepted that his actions were "not on". Court evidence reported by CNI
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: the criminal damage of a marked Hyundai garda car at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght on November 15, 2014 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Credit: Collins) A man who admitted throwing a rock through the rear window of a garda car at a water charges protest in Tallaght in 2014 has been given a fully suspended sentence of two and a half years. Passing sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Collins had remorse for what he had done and said it would be unfair to imprison him.
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