A woman driver endured a night of terror as a masked man wielding a syringe hijacked her car as she waited for her husband to alight from a bus at Kilcarn Navan, a local court has been told, Martin Reilly, (34) , of Tailteann Drive, Navan appeared at Trim Circuit Court charged in connection with the incident.

The court was told that defendant drove away in the car, later crashing it and was involved in another struggle with a young couple who had stopped to help them as they were on their way to a Valentine’s night dinner. Detective Garda O’Hanlon told the court that on 14 th February last year at 7.00 pm a woman had contacted Garda Control and Command reporting that as she as parked in her vehicle at the bus stop at Kilcarn Navan the passenger door opened and a male unknown to her got into the car wearing a mask and she observed what she thought was a syringe in his hand. She said he attempted to use the syringe on her in an effort to get her out of the vehicle.

A struggle ensued and several attempts were made to injure her with the syringe. In trying to get out of the car she said the male grabbed her leg in an attempt to injure her. She also said she had to attempt to throw herself on the ground outside the car to escape from him. She was able to close the door behind her and make her escape.

He then drove away in her car in the direction of Dublin. Gardai were mobilised and they got a report that a car matching the description from earlier had crashed at Garlow Cross. Gardai found it crashed into a hedge. The windscreen was smashed and the vehicle contained a considerable amount of blood.

They spoke to a couple at the scene who said they had been travelling in their car on the same road. The man said as he was driving along in his BMW they noticed a vehicle overtaking them at speed and continuously going to the wrong side of the road. The car was going at such a speed that it appeared to going around bends on two wheels, he told Gardai. The car crashed into a hedge in front of them. The male got out of the car. The man said he went over to give assistance and discovered that the driver was disorientated and covered in blood. While he was out of the car he told his girlfriend to stay in the car and ring emergency services. He tried to help the other driver but he became irate and made his way to the car occupied by his girlfriend.

He opened the driver’s door, sat into the driver’s seat and began to rev the car engine and made attempts to release the handbrake. The witness said his girlfriend reacted by putting her body down onto the handbrake in some effort to stop the man releasing the handbrake. The owner was able to open the door of the car and remove the keys from the ignition and pull the defendant out. The defendant got out and ran towards nearby fields.

Arriving Gardai carried out a search and found defendant hiding in an old vehicle in a farmyard. He appeared to be injured and disorientated and was brought to James Connolly Memorial Hospital. When she got to the hospital she was told that the defendant had absconded from the hospital. The detective said she and another Garda had gone to defendant’s address the next day and located him there. After he was arrested he maintained a “no comment” stance.

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

In a victim impact statement the woman whose car was hijacked at Kilcarn said that it was a date she would never forget because her life “changed in seconds”. She said she felt invaded, vulnerable and in fear like she had never felt before. She said she fought for her life “thinking of my children and husband”. She said she felt so violated and in danger. “The shock still remains every time I’m in a dark place. My door is constantly locked”. The incident had disturbed her sleep for a long time. “I would like this nightmare to end but I feel it is something I will never forget”, she said.

The woman who had thrown herself across the handbrake in the BMW said in her victim impact statement that she felt the incident had not affected her mental health in any serious way. However, at the time it was a particularly “scary” situation and for a few weeks after noticed her thoughts racing throughout the day, thinking about what could have happened.

DEFENDANT HAD 163 PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS

The court was told defendant had 163 previous convictions. The detective Garda agreed with defending barrister James O’Brien that a letter of apology from the defendant had been handed into court. She agreed that he had a significant addiction for many years and also that he had been assaulted and injured just before the incidents now before the court. Mr O’Brien said his understanding was that his client had been in prison and been released in 2024 and had managed to stay out o trouble for a time.

Addressing Judge John Martin Mr O’Brien said the offences before the court were obviously very serious and it was obvious the incidents before the court were serious for the injured parties. What had happened did not appear to have been a part of any plan or structure on the part of his client. At the time he was in the throes of addiction, he said. Judge Martin said that the offences before the court had taken place while defendant was on bail. He said he had to take into account the seriousness of the offences to which defendant had pleaded guilty and there was no doubt the offences were very serious.

NO REGARD FOR LAW AND ORDER

He had to look at defendant’s personal circumstances but also the mitigating or aggravating circumstances. The hijacking of the car at Kilcarn must have been “absolutely terrifying” for the victim. He took into account that he was a relatively young man with two young children whom he was sure would love to spend time with their father if they could but he had amassed over a period of time 163 previous convictions involving all sorts of criminality including the type of behaviour that was before the court.

SIX YEARS SENTENCE

“You have little or no regard for law and order, Mr Reilly, and there’s no two ways about it”. Listening to the victim impact statement of the woman whose car was hijacked at Kilcarn the judge said it was no wonder the woman “was terrified out of her wits.” He was sentenced to six years in prison to be served at the expiration of a prison sentence he is currently serving and which expires in 2027.

He imposed a sentence of six months imprisonment on a charge of dangerous driving to be served concurrently along with a 10-year driving disqualification. He suspended the last two years of th six-year sentence on the basis that while in prison defendant will act under the care and supervision of the probation services.