A man who was a child when he was a victim of the Dublin bombings in the 1970s has been given a suspended sentence for burglary.
Thomas Thompson (59) entered the house through the unlocked back door, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
He had rung the doorbell minutes earlier at the property in Dollymount, north Dublin, and asked to speak to the homeowner. Garda Kathy Hannon told the court the homeowner’s teenage son told him she was asleep and unavailable.
The son was sitting in a back room when Thompson walked in the back door. A scuffle broke out between the pair as the teenager tried to get him out of the house.
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At one point, Thompson reached into his jacket pocket and told the son he had knife. A weapon was never produced and the son realised there was no knife.
The woman then came downstairs and Thompson called her a “rat”, the court heard.
The court heard he had a problem with the woman as she had previously reported to the gardaí how Thompson and others were causing a disturbance near her home from regular drinking and playing loud music.
Thompson of Kincora Court, Clontarf, Dublin, pleaded guilty to burglary on May 19th last year. He has 28 previous convictions, mostly for public order offences.
The homeowner reported the burglary to gardaí. Thompson, who was known to her, was later arrested and taken in for questioning.
Thompson accepted he had got into an altercation with the son and that he had suggested to the family he had knife on him. He told gardaí he did not have a knife and never intended to use one.
It was accepted Thompson has stopped congregating in the general area and has not caused any more trouble for the family.
Miriam Delahunt, defending, told the court her client was a victim of the Dublin bombings when he was seven years old.
She said this had a massive impact on his life and has led to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. A psychological report was handed into the court to confirm the diagnosis.
She said her client has learned from the incident and wished to make amends.
Judge Martin Nolan said Thompson had wanted to confront the occupants of the house, but his “confrontation was repelled”.
He said burglary of a home was a serious offence as it “disturbs the occupants’ peace of mind”.
The judge acknowledged Thompson’s plea of guilty and the trauma he had experienced during his lifetime.
He imposed a sentence of two years, which he suspended in full on condition that Thompson not be within 1km of the victim’s home.
