Man attacked neighbour after wrongly believing sex offender was inside house
Declan Brennan and Claire Henry
A man attacked his neighbour at her front door because he wrongly believed she was harbouring a sex offender in the house, a court has heard.
Troy Spratt (32) was highly intoxicated when he grabbed the victim by the throat and slammed her against a wall, causing her to bang her head, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Spratt of Primrose Grove, Darndale, Dublin 17 pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Sinead Singleton at her home on June 9th, 2024.
Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Ronan Munroe said, “It sounds like this man was acting like a mad man”.
He noted that the injured party called 999, and when the gardai arrived, they had to call for more urgent assistance due to the actions of Spratt.
Judge Munroe said that the aggravating factors in this case were that a woman experienced violence in her own home, a place where she deserves to be safe. He outlined that this was followed up by Spratt smashing up her car.
The judge said the custodial threshold had been crossed and set a headline sentence of three years. The judge said he must also take the mitigating factors into account, such as Spratt's guilty plea, that lots of people have spoken up for him, he is undergoing counselling, and the injured party in this case has also spoken up for him.
After considering these factors, Judge Munroe reduced the sentence to two and a half years.
Judge Munroe said, “I have to ensure that nothing like this happens to the injured party or anyone else again.” He noted that Spratt “seems to be going in the right direction” and therefore he suspended the sentence in full for five years and under strict conditions, which included the payment of €4,000 to the injured party and to undergo urine analysis at his own expense as deemed necessary by Garda Dillon.
Earlier, Garda David Dillon testified that around noon on the day of the offence, the victim heard banging on her front door. When she opened it, Spratt immediately launched into his assault.
Two unidentified people came to the woman’s assistance and removed Spratt from the front of the house. Spratt came back and used a hatchet to smash the windows of a car parked at the house and began jumping up and down on the roof of the car, denting it.
The victim called the gardai, who found Spratt nearby. Gda Dillon told the court that it took three gardai to arrest Spratt who was spitting and kicking out at officers.
He was initially deemed unfit to be interviewed.
The court heard that the incident started as a misunderstanding in that Spratt believed that the victim had someone in the house who he believed to be involved in sexual offending. Gda Dillon said there was no such person in the house.
Gda Dillon said that there had been no previous issues between Spratt and the victim and none since this one.
In a victim impact statement, the woman stated that this was a terrifying experience and it has left her with some anxiety since.
She said she bears no malice towards Spratt and believes he is a decent person.
Spratt has 68 previous convictions, including theft and public order offences, and attempted robbery. He has no history of violent offending. Gda Dillon told defending counsel, Carol Doherty BL, that he accepted Spratt’s expressions of remorse were genuine.
