Man (33) who wielded a meat cleaver when attempting to steal a car is jailed

Fiona Ferguson

A man who wielded a meat cleaver during an attempt to steal a high-powered car has been jailed for eight years.

Stuart Tighe (33) and another man had also targeted the same victim just days before the attack in an attempted carjacking outside his place of work but were foiled in their efforts.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the victim lost part of his ear in the attack on his home.

The victim told the court that he was forced to sell his car, an Audi S8 which he had been left by a relative, after he was warned by gardaí there might be a possible third attempt to take the car.

Tighe, of no fixed abode, Coolock, Dublin 5, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with a meat cleaver and assault causing harm on February 3rd, 2024, and attempted theft on January 29th, 2024.

He has 146 previous convictions, including for theft, assault, violent disorder, public order and road traffic offences.

Passing the sentence on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan said gardaí had done a good job in tracking down Tighe after the incidents.

He noted Tighe made no admissions but pleaded guilty after being presented with the weight of evidence against him.

He said this was a serious matter and his guilty plea was the only real point of mitigation.

He set a headline sentence of 12 years, and taking into account mitigation, imposed a sentence of nine years.

He suspended the final year in order to incentivise rehabilitation.

An investigating garda told George Burns BL, prosecuting, that on January 29th, 2024, the victim was exiting his place of work and had begun driving home when he heard a thud.

He realised a car had run into the back of him and when he got out encountered two men.

The driver accused him of stopping suddenly and the victim became suspicious.

The passenger in the second car, Tighe, got out and walked to the front of the victim’s car. He then jumped into the front of the car in an attempt to steal it but the victim managed to pull him out.

The man drove to a garda station to report the crime but left as he had been queuing for a long time.

The man got surveillance footage from his workplace and spotted that the men’s car had been parked there two hours prior to him leaving work.

A few days later on February 3rd 2024 the man heard his doorbell ringing at about 10.30pm. He thought it might be a lost food delivery driver but instead found three men when he opened the door.

There was a scuffle with a meat cleaver used by Tighe in the attack as the man attempted to get his front door closed. He managed to push the men back and close the door.

The men fled, with one of the men, not Tighe, smashing the car’s windscreen as they left.

A neighbour who heard the commotion came to the victim's door and found blood all over the ground and hall door. They called 999 and assisted the victim, who had injuries to his forehead, ear, and fingers.

The man was treated in hospital but lost part of his ear and has been left with permanent scarring.

Footage of the attack was captured on CCTV and shown to the judge on a laptop.

Gardaí were able to identify Tighe as a suspect, and he was arrested in December. He was interviewed four times and his phone was found to contain messages referring to the offending.

In his victim impact statement, the man described how he thought he was going to die in the attack at his home.

He said he had been left in a bad physical state and lost part of his ears, with many scars a permanent reminder of “the savagery perpetrated on me.”

He outlined how he suffered nightmares and broken sleep in the aftermath of the assault. He has upgraded his home security at significant cost and has been left feeling hopeless and cynical.

He said he did not believe Tighe’s guilty plea indicated remorse and was instead an attempt to get out of jail earlier.

Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, defending, said his client would like to offer an apology for what the man went through and understood he was facing a lengthy custodial sentence.

Counsel said that it was a strong but circumstantial case, and had the case proceeded to trial, it would have been difficult.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said Tighe had left school at a young age and found himself with a negative peer group, abusing substances and coming into contact with the justice system. He found himself living on the streets, having suffered a number of traumatic bereavements.

Counsel said there would come a time when Tighe is released and submitted that, in the interest of society, a proper structure should be waiting for him.