A court has heard a 27-year-old Dublin man threatened two French students at knifepoint in their beds before tying them up during a house burglary.
Stewart Whelan of Keeper Road in Dublin 12 pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of false imprisonment at a house in Herberton Road in Rialto in April 2011. Charges of aggravated burlary and assault were taken into account.
Vincent Heneghan BL for the DPP, told the court that four French students at Griffith College, aged between 19 and 21, were living in the house.
One of the students said she was 'afraid for her life' when she woke at night to find a man in her bedroom holding a knife. He used his hand to cover her mouth, put a knife towards her throat, and demanded money and her laptop.
A second man carrying a breadknife also came into her room. They stole her phone, her wallet and other items. She was later able to describe the burglars to gardai.
One of her housemates was stabbed in the arm. He also woke to find a burglar in his room. He was asked for his car keys and when he replied that he did not have a car, he was kicked in the head.
The burglar also put a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him before a second man, with a scarf covering his face, attacked him with a knife. The two men then ransacked the room stealing an Apple laptop, a wallet, mobile phones, a camera.
They then tied up the two French students who managed to escape and raise the alarm.
The court heard that Stewart Whelan has 94 previous convictions. Forensic evidence led to his arrest. He was being held at Kevin Street Garda station and a garda noticed he was wearing a distinctive pair of runners.
The runners were sent off for forensic analysis and there was a positive match with footprints found at the Herberton Road house.
Equipment stolen from the house was recovered during a search of his home and DNA analysis linked him to a cigarette butt at the scene. He entered an early guilty plea.
The French students have returned to France. They did not prepare victim impact statements.
Defence barrister Paul Greene SC told the court that Stewart Whelan claimed he was 'totally out of control and out of his head on the night in question'.
He has been in a residential rehabilitation programme in Bray for nearly a year and the court heard there is a marked improvement in his attitude and that he is now able to take correction.
Mr. Greene said there has been an 'enormous sea change' in relation to his client. Judge Mary Ellen Ring will pass sentence in January.
