Getaway driver who dragged garda along ground is jailed for 20 months

A getaway driver who dragged a garda along in his vehicle while he was trying to escape has been jailed for 20 months.

Laurence Connors (28) was waiting outside a house in a stolen car while his four accomplices were ransacking the home and stealing cash and jewellery from it. Gardaí had been called to the scene by a neighbour who spotted the gang acting suspiciously.

Garda Ronan Doyle told Karl Finnegan BL, prosecuting, that he and his colleague, Garda Declan Crowley, spotted Connors waiting in the stolen Audi. He said Connors saw them and drove past the patrol car.

Connors then stopped at a nearby junction to allow the four burglars to jump into the car. Gda Crowley walked up to the driver’s door in an attempt to stop Connors driving away.

Gda Doyle said that Gda Crowley leaned into the driver’s window to get the keys from the ignition while Connors and his accomplices punched the garda about the face and body.

Gda Crowley managed to restrain Connors with one hand while reaching for the keys but Connors accelerated backwards, dragging the garda along the ground for 40 meters.

Connors then crashed into a Fiat Punto parked nearby after the rear axle of the Audi broke and the wheel came off. The driver of the parked car, who was in the process of getting into the vehicle at the time, was knocked to the ground.

Gda Crowley continued to hold onto Connors preventing him from getting out of the car but the other four managed to get away. Gda Doyle said he came to his colleague’s assistance and they arrested Connors.

Connors of Cherryfield Way, Firhouse, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to trespass, possession of a stolen car, assaulting a garda and criminal damage to the Fiat Punto on Lyons Street, Newcastle, Dublin on July 18th, 2019.

He has 37 previous convictions and is currently serving 10 years in prison for an earlier burglary. He is due for release in 2025.

A victim impact statement from Gda Crowley was handed into court. It stated that he required six stitches to his upper lip from the blows he received from the gang and he was bruised all over his body as a result of being dragged along the ground.

The owner of the Fiat Punto was not seriously injured.

The court heard that the homeowner’s parents had been visiting her from abroad and their entire savings for the trip, €5,000, had been stolen during the burglary. A quantity of the woman’s jewellery had also been taken.

Carol Doherty BL, defending, said that Connors accepted that he “acted in concert with others” but asked the court to accept that he didn’t enter the home himself.

She said he had various problems with drug abuse and had relapsed at the time. Counsel said her client wished to apologise to the gardaí­.

She said his wife was in court to support him and added that Connors’s sister was killed in a car accident two weeks ago.

“His addiction led him a dark road,” Ms Doherty said and added that much of his offending related to his childhood. She asked Judge Martin Nolan to accept that her client had the potential for change.

“He hopes to work in the kitchen in prison as he is interested in cooking”, Ms Doherty said.

Judge Nolan said it was due to “good garda work” that the burglars were impeded and noted that Gda Crowley was both assaulted and injured during Connors’s attempted escape. He said he believed Connors was remorseful for what he did.

He sentenced him to 20 months in prison which he said should be consecutive to the term he is currently serving.