Man carried out two armed carjackings in one night

Man carried out two armed carjackings in one night

A man who carried out two armed carjackings in one night has been jailed for six and a half years.

 Christopher Prentice (25) threatened a taxi driver with a knife in the first attack and later used a hammer to smash the window of a car before pulling the female driver out of the seat.

Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice 2 October 2016

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court

 The second victim began sobbing and shaking in court while reading from her victim impact statement in which she said the attack has left her in a constant state of stress and fear.

 After his arrest Prentice told gardai he had been drinking heavily and smoking weed and had very little memory of his actions. He apologised to the victims and gardai and said he had been “in a bad way” with grief for a recently deceased cousin.

 Prentice of Brookview Gardens, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to two counts of seizing control of a vehicle by force on February 6 last (2020) at locations in south Dublin. He also admitted dangerous driving in the Clondalkin area on the same occasion and assault of two gardai.

 Garda Peter Finan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that two gardai were injured when Prentice rammed their patrol car at the end of a high speed chase.

 Prentice ran from the car but was caught by gardai after he climbed over a wall but got caught up in undergrowth.

 Judge Martin Nolan said the violent attacks were very traumatic for both victims. He noted that the second victim had previously been a very successful sales manager but was now unable to carry out that work due to the trauma and anxiety caused by her ordeal.

 He noted that taxi drivers were in a vulnerable position in their work and that this victim now wishes to get out of the business.

 He sentenced Prentice to six and a half years and disqualified him from driving for ten years.

 At the time of these offences Prentice was out serving the suspended portion of a sentence imposed in January 2019 for dangerously driving a stolen car in May 2018. He also has a conviction from December 2014 for a carjacking during which he dragged a taxi driver from his car.

 James Dwyer SC, defending, told the court his client wished to offer a profound expression of remorse for his outrageous behaviour.

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