Louth man (29) armed himself with machete during ‘extreme incident of road rage’

By Francis Carroll, The Drogheda Independent

A 29-year-old man who left the scene of a traffic collision he caused before returning with a machete and attacking the other driver has been jailed for a total of seven years on charges arising from that and other incidents in Drogheda.

Dean Johnson, Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, pleaded guilty. A sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court was told that he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine during all of the offending.

The most recent matter occurred on June 5, 2024 and Judge Dara Hayes said it could be described as “much more than an extreme incident of road rage”.

The defendant admitted assaulting the other motorist, a 71-year-old former member of the Army, causing him harm; producing the machete, dangerous driving and uninsured driving.

Mr Johnson also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm on February 4, 2022, when he struck a man on the top of the head with a baseball bat and to a similar charge on September 27, 2020 when Gardaí found his victim unconscious on the street.

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Details were given of 22 previous convictions, including for assault, production of weapons and criminal damage. The accused had been assessed at high risk of reoffending. He has been in custody on remand since June 14, 2024.

Nine days earlier the victim of the road rage was driving through Rathmullen Park in his vintage car. The defendant was driving “aggressively” behind him.

The motorist in front stopped and got out. He had to jump out of the way to avoid Johnson who struck his vehicle. While the pensioner was on the phone to Gardaí, Johnson left before returning and attacking the man with a machete.

Most of the injuries were to his left arm as he defended himself. He subsequently said in a Victim Impact Statement that but for his military background and training he wouldn’t have had the strength to repel the attack.

A severe hand injury required surgery. He had not regained full strength in the hand and was left with residual scarring.

The man said it was a day he would never forget. He never thought in a million years that something like this could happen. It was so vicious and hard to get over.

On February 4, 2022, Johnson and a co-accused went to a house in Ballsgrove where they set upon another man. The defendant inflicted a “forceful strike” to the top of his head with a baseball bat.

Windows were smashed amounting to €1,000 damage before the duo ran away.

Their victim, who did not co-operate with the Garda investigation, suffered broken fingers in each hand as well as cuts to his body and head.

In the first incident on September 27, 2020, the injured man been out socialising and in the early hours of the morning was at a party in Dean Johnson’s brother’s house. The next thing he remembered was waking up in hospital.

Gardaí had been called to Rathmullen Park at 8.30am where they found him unconscious. The defendant had run back inside and was hiding in the attic.

The victim was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital before being transferred to Beaumont Hospital. He had bleeding to the brain, bruising to his skull and cuts. He made a full recovery.

Judge Hayes remarked that this man suffered a “savage assault”, while another victim had been attacked with a baseball bat in his own home.

It was a “terrifying experience” for the older man. The judge said that in her Victim Impact Statement, one of this man’s daughters suggested it was much more than road rage and he agreed.

Not content with blowing his car’s horn and flashing the lights, the defendant returned to attack the man with a machete.

A probation report indicated that Johnson put all of the offending down to excessive alcohol and cocaine abuse.

He started drinking at 11 and taking cocaine at 18. His father died when he was a child. He had no contact with his own child.

The defendant worked in the bakery in Mountjoy Prison.

With consecutive elements, Judge Hayes imposed a total of nine years imprisonment, the final two years conditionally suspended, and backdated to June 14, 2024.

A 12-year driving disqualification was added.