Boxing contender threatened to kill

By Declan Brennan

A contender for a national boxing title has avoided jail after pleading guilty to making threats to kill or cause serious harm.

Evan Metcalfe (22) told a worker in a mobile phone shop that he would “get” him after work. The victim told gardai that Metcalfe was right up in his face and behaved in an extremely threatening manner.

Metcalfe, of Captain’s Road, Crumlin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making threats to kill on two occasions. The first was at a house in Walkinstown on August 19, 2013.

He was on bail for this offence when he threatened the worker at the Ashleaf shopping centre on July 6, 2015.

Garda Kevin O’Shaughnessy told Gareth Baker BL, prosecuting, that the victim in the earlier incident was a former Russian soldier.

He told gardaí that two men showed up at his house in Walkinstown and one of them pointed a gun at him. The victim described the gun as a Colt pistol, but no weapon was ever recovered.

The victim stood his ground and the two men ran off. Metcalfe was identified by gardai and during a search of his home they found €340 worth of cannabis hidden in various boxing trophies.

The victim of the later offence was a shop manager in a Carphone Warehouse shop when Metcalfe and four other men came in and started interfering with phones.

One man told the manager that they were going to “wreck the place” and the victim asked them to leave.

Metcalfe then went up to the victim and told him: “I’m going to f**king brain you.” He later told him: “I’ll get you after work. I’ll see you around.”

The victim said he saw Metcalfe taking a photograph of him shortly after this. He said he suffered from stress and sleeplessness after the incident and was forced to find another employer after the company refused to transfer him to another branch.

Seamus Clarke BL, defending, said his client had a national junior title for boxing and had fought Olympic boxer Paddy Barnes. He said his client was smoking a lot of cannabis at the time.

His three previous convictions include one for assault and two for public order offences.

Liam Mooney, chairman of Crumlin Boxing Club, told the court that Metcalfe had gone off the rails when his grandmother got Alzheimer’s disease.

He said Metcalfe had since become involved in boxing and was training very hard. He said in three week’s time he was the favourite to win a title in a national level bout.

Judge Petria McDonnell imposed a suspended sentence of 18 months on condition that he pays €2,000 over in compensation to the mobile phone worker.

She said his actions were completely at odds with the discipline of boxing and told him this was his last chance.

“If you appear here again with an offence you’ll do all the time that has to be done and your boxing career won’t make a difference,” she said.

Last year Metcalfe got an eight-month suspended sentence in Tallaght District Court for assault. He was convicted after a trial of assaulting John McHugh causing him harm at an address at Limekiln Lane, Perrystown, on January 17, 2014.