Man who took part in 'frenzied' incident involving armed rival Dublin gangs jailed
Isabel Hayes
A man who took part in a “frenzied” incident involving armed rival gangs from the north and southside of Dublin has been sentenced to two years and nine months in jail.
Jamie Berry (30) is already serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for conspiracy to murder a teenager in February 2021.
Three months before that offence in November 2020, he engaged in violent disorder when about 11 men from the Sheriff Street area in the north inner city Dublin crossed the Liffey to attack men from his area in the Pearse House complex, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
In the ensuing street fight between the rival gangs involving hatchets, knives and bats, Berry stabbed two men in the back, with one of his victims suffering a punctured lung as a result, Sergeant Eoin Kirwan told Shaun Smyth BL, prosecuting.
The other victim suffered superficial wounds.
Berry himself was hit in the head with a hatchet in the incident on Creighton Street, which was captured on CCTV footage. He required over 70 staples to his head.
Apart from the conspiracy to murder conviction, he has six other previous convictions, including for drugs, assault and public order offences.
Berry, of Leo Fitzgerald House, Dublin 2, pleaded guilty to affray, violent disorder and two counts of assault causing harm in the city centre on November 3rd, 2020.
Judge Orla Crowe said the men involved had engaged in “absolutely outrageous behaviour” that must have been terrifying for passers-by on the street that day.
She initially handed down a three-year sentence, dated from when Berry pleaded guilty in January. She agreed to a request from Keith Spencer BL, defending, to suspend the final three months after Mr Spencer noted this sentence would extend Berry's time in custody.
In his plea of mitigation, Mr Spencer said Berry has matured greatly since committing this offence and now has two young children. He submitted it was a “frenzied” incident and said everyone involved “regretted it afterwards”.
Things have since calmed down between the two groups in question, he said.
Defence counsel said Berry had difficulties in his childhood with an abusive stepfather. His mother died from cancer. He honoured his bail conditions until he went into custody and is anxious to reconnect with his children upon his release from prison, the court heard.
