Dublin man with 341 previous convictions jailed over threat to kill pregnant partner

Isabel Hayes

A man with 341 previous convictions has been jailed for three and a half years for threatening to kill his heavily pregnant partner while armed with a hammer.

Dean Joyce (33) came before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with possibly the highest number of criminal convictions ever to come before the court, defence counsel said on Monday.

"It's the highest amount of previous convictions that I have ever had to deal with," Oisin Clarke BL, defending, told the court.

Joyce, of Rowlagh Park, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to one count of threatening to kill and one count of simple assault of his then partner at an address in Tallaght on November 6th, 2024. She was eight months pregnant at the time. Another count of production of an article was taken into consideration.

Garda Ciara Fenlon told Liam Dockery BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were called to the house on November 7th where they were told that the previous evening, a verbal altercation between Joyce and his partner had led to a physical confrontation.

CCTV footage from the exterior of the home showed Joyce pursuing his partner outside their home while brandishing a hammer. He threatened to kill her and their unborn child and forced her back into the property.

The court heard he took her phone and she was not able to retrieve it until the following morning, when she alerted gardaí. Joyce was arrested and has been in custody since.

About one third of Joyce's previous convictions are for road traffic offences, the court heard. The remainder include convictions for assault, escaping from custody, unlawful taking of a vehicle, criminal damage, possessing stolen property, theft, criminal damage and public order offences.

In a victim impact statement which was read out by counsel, Joyce's former partner said she didn't know about his past when she first met him and that initially "things seemed okay". However, she said her life then changed dramatically.

She said she keeps reliving the memories of him threatening to kill her and their unborn baby. She said he not only destroyed her but also the lives of her other children. She is trying to rebuild her life now, she said in her statement.

Defence counsel said Joyce had a "colossal" amount of difficulties growing up. The court heard he had no father present in his life and that his mother was a heroin addict who died when he was 13.

His life then spun out of control and he started taking drugs as a young teenager. He has no second level education and has been institutionalised from years spent in custody, Mr Clarke said.

He managed to rehabilitate for a period of two years and was living in the UK for a period of time, but relapsed upon his return to Ireland, the court heard.

Sentencing Joyce on Monday, Judge Orla Crowe said it was clear that he had a childhood of "considerable deprivation" and a life that involved criminality, drug abuse and homelessness.

She took into account a number of mitigating factors before noting: "he has had adversity in his life, but he is not the victim in this situation. His former partner is the victim.

"This was heinous offending towards a woman in the advanced stages of pregnancy. He came after her with a hammer and threatened to kill her and her unborn child. She was his intimate partner."

The judge set a headline sentence of six years which she reduced to four years, taking the mitigating factors into account.

She said that in order to incentivise Joyce's rehabilitation and "for the benefit and protection of society", she would suspend the final six months of the sentence under the condition that Joyce remain under the supervision of the Probation Service during this period.