Man jailed for hijacking car while owner was hoovering it

Natasha Reid

A 45-year-old criminal who has spent more than half his life in prison has been jailed for a further six and a half years for hijacking a car while the owner was cleaning it.

Joseph Rafferty, who was identified from the port-wine birthmark on his face, threatened to kill the woman if she didn’t get out, causing her to jump out of the moving vehicle.

Rafferty, of no fixed abode in Tallaght, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court via video link from prison on Friday, charged with a spate of related offences at service stations in Dublin and Wicklow last year.

He pleaded guilty to telling the woman to get out of her car or he would kill her, and unlawfully seizing it on April 26th, 2025 at Circle K in Walkinstown.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing her iPhone and dental veneers on that occasion. He further admitted to robbery at the Applegreen in Rathnew on the same date, in which he took €800.

He also pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at the Circle K in Bray on the same evening.

Judge Orla Crowe said this had been a “spate” of offences by a recidivist offender over a short period of time. She said it had been underpinned by a serious level of violence.

She said Rafferty had subjected the woman who had been hoovering her car to a brutal series of offences before she got out of the car and noted her personal items had not been recovered.

Judge Crowe referenced the absolute terror inflicted on the woman and said the fact that innocent people’s peace of mind in going about everyday tasks were shattered to that extent had to be taken into account.

She observed in mitigation Rafferty’s early guilty plea and remorse. She noted his drug addiction and difficult upbringing. She considered the contents of a psychological report and that he intends to rehabilitate in prison.

Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of 10 years on the hijacking counts, with the other counts taken into consideration. In light of mitigation and his personal circumstances, she imposed a seven-and-a-half year sentence with the final year suspended to incentivise rehabilitation.

Detective Garda Daniel Tracey told the court that gardaí were called to the service station in Walkinstown shortly before 7pm that evening.

The complainant, who was shaken up and visibly upset, told them that she had pulled into the station to clean her car. She began vacuuming with the keys in the ignition.

She said that, while she was in the back seat, a male got into the driver’s seat and told her multiple times to “get out of the car or I’ll f***ing kill you”. He was grinding his teeth, she said.

She explained that he drove forward and crashed, before reversing with her still inside. She jumped out while the car was moving. He then sped out of the forecourt, and she ran into the shop for help.

Her car was not recovered. Nor were her mobile phone or the €1,000 box of teeth veneers, which were still inside.

The woman described the man as being in his 40s with a wine birthmark on the side of his face.

Just over an hour later, a male matching the same description entered the Circle K in Bray, where he used a nine-inch stick to threaten staff. He demanded cigarettes but didn’t manage to take anything.

On his way out of the shop, he was captured on CCTV removing four bottles of Bulmer’s Zero before getting back into the woman’s car. The footage also showed the mark on his cheek.

Shortly afterwards, the same man arrived at the Applegreen in Rathnew driving the same car, which he filled with €70 of petrol. He then jumped over the counter brandishing an empty Bulmer’s bottle, picked up a scissors, and told staff to “open the two fucking tills now”. He took €800 in cash from the tills.

There was also CCTV footage of this incident, an investigation took place and Rafferty was apprehended.

The court heard he had 61 previous convictions dating back to 1999, including for hijacking, aggravated burglary, false imprisonment, endangerment, carrying a firearm with intent, possession of firearms and larceny. He had received lengthy prison sentences, including seven years in 1999 and nine years in 2018.

A victim impact statement was handed in on behalf of the owner of the car, who was present in court.

Det Gda Tracey agreed with Sarah-Jane O’Callaghan BL, defending, that the CCTV footage was not of great quality and that the port-wine stain on his face was of huge significance in the case.

“If you know him, you know him,” replied the garda.

He also agreed that drug addiction had played a significant role in his life - more than half of which he had spent in prison.

Counsel told the court that Rafferty’s father was a very seasoned and serious criminal and that her client had witnessed him inflict extraordinary levels of violence in the family home.

O’Callaghan said that the home was raided frequently because their father was a serial burglar and sold drugs. He also encouraged Rafferty to take on a criminal life from a young age.

Counsel said that her client began abusing alcohol at 12, was expelled from primary school and left secondary school after a year. She said that he was encouraged to leave school.

She explained that he started taking cocaine and heroin in his 20s, was always in a paranoid, anxious state and unable to function at all without drugs.

O’Callaghan added that he’d had grief in his life, with his co-accused being killed in the middle of an armed robbery, and another friend being killed joyriding.

She noted from the report that, based on his limited intellect and education, he just did not comprehend the impact of his crimes on victims.

She said that he was assaulted so badly in prison that his jaw was broken, he is on a liquid diet and can barely communicate.

“Life has not been easy for him,” she said. However, she said that he intended to be productive in prison.

Emmet Nolan BL, prosecuting, told Judge Crowe that the maximum sentence for hijacking is 15 years.