A 20-YEAR-old Limerick man who threatened to stab and shoot schoolchildren after he had stolen from them said he was on a “bender of drugs”.
Clyde Keogh of Ballyclough Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston is to be sentenced in December after he admitted stealing from the children as they walked to school on January 21 of this year.
Keogh hit the headlines earlier this year when he threw a bottle of Coke at a District Court judge after she refused him bail.
During the evidence hearing at Limerick Circuit Court this week, Judge Tom O’Donnell was told that Keogh was caught by a parent of one of the children he robbed who held him until Gardaí arrived and arrested him.
Keogh had demanded phones from the children who feared he would stab or shoot them.
However, no weapons were found when he was arrested.
Keogh admitted mugging three boys, aged 13, 15, and 18, and of stealing their phones. He also admitted the attempted robbery of another 15-year-old boy.
Garda Steven Noonan that the 20-year-old had been abusing drink and drugs since the death of his grandparents
Defence counsel Brian McInerney said he could not be questioned by Gardaí for six hours because he was so intoxicated.
“He was so drunk he picked up some staples and tried to eat them. He was a physical wreck. In fact, he was in such a ragged state he couldn’t have survived much longer.
However, he was now a “different man”, the court was told.
Judge O’Donnell adjourned the case to December 16.
