Boxing instructor threatened ex and new fiancé with hammer
A boxing instructor has been given a suspended sentence for revealing a hammer in his jacket pocket while threatening his ex-girlfriend and her fiancé that he would “bash their heads in”.
Stephen Dowling (33), of Ely Woods, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 pleaded not guilty to producing an article capable of inflicting serious injury, contrary to section 11 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990, and to two counts of making threats to kill or cause serious harm, contrary to section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.
Judge Patricia McNamara convicted him on all three counts at Tallaght District Court.
The offences arose from an incident on 4 May, 2024 at the Circle K service station on Ballyboden Road in Dublin.
The court heard that Dowling, a former amateur boxer who now volunteers as a boxing instructor, approached a parked car where his former girlfriend was sitting with her fiancé during her lunch break from work at the Circle K garage shop.
The woman told the court the pair were chatting in her fiancé’s car when Dowling arrived on a bicycle with a small white pit bull and began shouting abuse, accusing her friends of bothering his then-girlfriend:
“He was screaming that he’d bash our heads in,” she said. “He was only centimetres away, shouting and screaming. He added, “I’ll f***ing do it”.
She said she was “paralysed with fear” as Dowling opened his jacket to reveal what looked like a hammer inside the inner pocket.
The victim said she and Dowling had dated briefly for two weeks in 2023 and she had not been in contact with him at all since. “I know he does boxing,” she said, adding that his strength made the encounter even more frightening.
The woman’s fiancé told the court he also believed the item in Dowling’s jacket was a hammer. He said Dowling shouted: “I know where you live, I know all of you, I’ll f***ing do it,” before striking the car with his bicycle tyre and riding away.
In a victim-impact statement, the woman said she has since left her job because she no longer felt safe returning to work. She said she worries just going to the shops in case she sees Dowling again and described him as “unpredictable”, saying she had felt “trapped” and unsafe at her workplace.
Dowling denied making violent threats or brandishing the tool, saying he only wanted to ask the woman to stop her friends contacting his girlfriend. Tom Conlon prosecuted on behalf of the DPP.
The court heard CCTV footage that could have assisted the investigation was later found to be corrupted and unusable.
Judge Patricia McNamara said she was satisfied Dowling had a hammer in his possession and that, by displaying it and using threatening language, he caused genuine fear and had the capacity to inflict serious injury.
She said both witnesses gave “clear and credible” evidence and that, given the past relationship and their knowledge of the defendant’s background in boxing, the encounter would have been even more frightening.
Dowling was convicted on all three charges and sentenced to three concurrent terms of 11 months’ imprisonment, each suspended for two years. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victims.
The judge noted that Dowling, who has no previous convictions and has not come to Garda attention since, volunteers five days a week at a local boxing club.
When imposing sentence, Judge Patricia McNamara addressed Dowling, telling him: “Having a hammer in that situation – and threatening people was a bad decision. If you lost your temper, you could have used it. That’s why even carrying one around in your jacket is unacceptable”.