Dundalk Court: Man seriously assaulted woman during attempted mugging

A 32 year old local man who seriously assaulted a woman during an attempted mugging in the town, was last week jailed for two and a half years at Dundalk Circuit Court.

The court had previously heard that Keith Hughes with an address at Oakland Park, Cox’s Demesne, Dundalk has been within the criminal justice system since he was 12 years old.

The victim, a Croatian national, was walking home on January 13th last year, when she initially met the defendant in the Rampart Road area around 8.40pm. She answered a question and kept on walking but he followed her until she reached McSwiney Street where he hit her on the back of the head and said he wanted money.

He knocked off her ear pods, and when she picked them up he struck her a further three or four times, and when she told him she would call the guards, Keith Hughes told her no-one was going to come. He said it was a robbery and no-one would help her.

However, he ran off towards O’Hanlon Park, when she managed to flag down a passing motorist and a woman who lived nearby responded after hearing the commotion. The 32 year old, who had 73 previous convictions, was arrested the next day.

The Defence barrister said his client had abstained from alcohol for 18 months before the incident, but he turned to it, after being unable to get cannabis, and was completely out of control having taken a number of drugs.

The case was put back to Monday to see how he might be supervised post-release. Judge Dara Hayes imposed a four year sentence for the attempted robbery, with the final 18 months suspended, backdated to January 14th when he went into custody, while the assault causing harm charge was taken into consideration.

As part of the suspended portion of the sentence, Keith Hughes must place himself under the supervision of the Probation Service for 18 months post release, engage with his medical regime, abstain from problematic alcohol consumption and taking mood altering substances.