Inmate to serve additional six years for a prison stabbing and separate Dublin knife attack

By Declan Brennan

A prison inmate will serve an additional six-year sentence for a jailhouse stabbing and a separate city centre knife attack.

During the Mountjoy prison attack on December 18th, 2018, Dean Teeling (36) of Coultry Drive, Ballymun, Dublin, repeatedly stabbed Shane Fay in the back. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder and assault causing harm.

During the melee involving six men in the prison recreational room, Teeling repeatedly stabbed the victim in the back, leaving him with six stab wounds to the back and one cut to a finger. The victim declined to make a statement to gardaí, but the attack was caught on CCTV.

Teeling also pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to a man during the knife attack on Fownes Street in Temple Bar, Dublin city centre on January 8th, 2022.

CCTV footage played in court showed Teeling running up to the victim and making a single stabbing motion to the man's chest.

The defendant later claimed to gardai that the victim had sexually assaulted a relative of his and that the attack was an act of vengeance. The victim spent some time in hospital but did not make a complaint.

The court heard that Teeling has a long history of offending which includes convictions for knife assaults.

Judge Martin Nolan said the prison assault was “pretty savage”. He imposed custodial sentences of three years for each of the offences and ordered them to run consecutive.

The court heard that Brad Dempsey (24) of Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin was also involved in the 2018 prison assault. Dempsey kicked the victim once after he had been put on the floor during a melee, Garda David Graham told the court.

Dempsey pleaded guilty to affray at Mountjoy prison. He is currently serving an eight year prison term imposed in 2022 for firearms offences.

Judge Nolan sentenced Dempsey to 18 months imprisonment for his involvement in the prison affray.