Taxi robber jailed for grabbing driver by the neck and threatening to stab him

By Natasha Reid

A 25-year-old Dubliner has been jailed for three years for a robbery in which he grabbed a taxi driver by the neck from the back seat and told him he was going to be stabbed.

Lee Hand, with an address at The Beacon, Royal Canal Park in Dublin, was before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday charged with robbing the driver of his taxi, cash and mobile phone as he dropped Hand and an accomplice off at their destination on 24th September, 2024.

He pleaded guilty to carrying out the crime at Church Terrace, Finglas.

He also pleaded guilty to carrying out a separate robbery a year earlier on October 3rd, 2023 at Supervalu, Rathborne, in which he made off with €200 in cash.

Detective Garda Gary Moore told the court that a taxi was called to another building in Royal Canal Park that afternoon and collected the accused and another man.

Both men sat in the back seat, and the driver took them to Finglas.

They asked the driver if he had change of €50, and he took out his wallet. Hand then grabbed the driver by the neck from behind. When the driver tried to struggle free, the accused’s grip got tighter.

His accomplice took the driver’s wallet and €30 in cash from his hand, and the key from the ignition. The two men demanded the dash cam.

The court heard that he handed it over, as he was in fear for his life.

They also took his mobile phone and ordered him out of the taxi. The accused got out of the taxi too, covered his face with his jacket and told the driver that the other man was going to get out of the car and stab him.

Another car then came along and interrupted the crime. Hand got back into the taxi, and his accomplice drove them away.

Hand was spotted in another vehicle in Finglas the following day, and the taxi was found in a car park at Royal Canal Park.

Detective Garda Alan Barry told the court that in the earlier robbery, Hand had accompanied a woman into Supervalu.

When the shop assistant opened the till to serve her, he went behind the counter, nudged the assistant out of the way and took the money.

Although CCTV footage showed that he was carrying a screwdriver at the time, he hadn’t produced it, and the injured party was not aware of it.

The court heard that Hand had eight previous convictions, including for assault causing harm and misuse of drugs.

His barrister, Oisín Clarke BL, said that his client had never known his father. His mother had her own substance abuse problems throughout his life, he said.

She died from an overdose in September 2021, and it was the accused who found her.

This was very traumatic for the then 21-year-old, said Counsel. His offending prior to that date was modest, he suggested, but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

He then began abusing drugs, using cocaine heavily and getting into debt.

Judge Orla Crowe noted that Hand came from a difficult background but now had family support, with two aunts attending court to support him.

She said that his crimes had to be marked with a custodial sentence, but that she was going to build in rehabilitation to give him the best possible chance.

She imposed a sentence of two years and three months for the Supervalu robbery and a concurrent three years and nine months for the robbery of the taxi driver.

She suspended the final nine months for two years and put him under the supervision of the probation services for one year post-release.