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Man jailed for stabbing neighbour over 'incessantly' reciting poetry

He stabbed the man in the leg and bit him on the face.

A DUBLIN MAN who stabbed and bit his upstairs neighbour over “incessantly” reciting poetry has been jailed for two and a half years.

John Paul Mulready (40) burst into his neighbour’s flat brandishing a serrated peeling knife after hammering at the door shouting about music being played, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told.

The injured party, Dermot Byrne, told gardaí that there was a brief standoff after he picked up a frying pan to defend himself, but then Mulready tackled him to the ground, stabbed him in the leg and bit him on the face.

Byrne, who composes poetry, eventually got rid of the attacker by swinging a large bottle of vodka at him after another neighbour intervened.

Detective Garda Stephen Homan confirmed to Judge Martin Nolan that Mulready admitted he had attacked Dermot Byrne on the night because of “poetry recited incessantly” from upstairs.

Mulready, of Camden Mews, Camden Street, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with a knife at Haddington Road, Dublin, on September 4, 2015.

He has 116 previous convictions, including drugs offences, possessing knives, assault and criminal damage.

Wounds

Detective Garda Homan described Dermot Byrne as having significant wounds where he had been bitten on the eye and nose on the night, but added that these have since healed.

He told Elva Duffy BL, prosecuting, that the injured party noticed that his phone had gone missing after the incident. The detective told the court this phone contained Byrne’s poetry.

He agreed with Luigi Rea BL, defending, that Mulready had “made a mess” of his early life between alcohol and drugs but that he looked a lot smarter in court yesterday.

The detective further agreed that Mulready had support in court from a number of people from the New Hope residential drug treatment centre.

Aidan Curran, of New Hope, told Rea that Mulready was now drug and alcohol-free and that life was more positive for him in the four months he had been at the centre.

Rea submitted to Judge Nolan that Mulready had shown a lack of self control because of drink and prescribed medication and reacted in the wrong way when he burst in on Dermot Byrne. He asked the judge to allow his client to continue at the residential treatment centre.

Judge Nolan noted that Mulready had taken great steps to reform himself, but said he had to take into consideration the father-of-three’s serious history of offending. He said that “thankfully” the injuries inflicted on Byrne were minor and he made a full recovery.

He described Mulready’s attack as one of “bad temper and intemperance”, adding that the crime was too serious consider a suspended sentence.

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    Mute Walt Jabsco
    Favourite Walt Jabsco
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    Feb 28th 2018, 7:18 AM

    When he called to the upstairs flat that night,
    An argument he tried to pick,
    But it turned into a deadly fight,
    And he ended up in the nick.

    209
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    Mute Shoot Thepiano
    Favourite Shoot Thepiano
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    Feb 28th 2018, 6:44 AM

    116 previous convictions,
    One more now ,
    For this infliction.

    164
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    Mute Paddy Kavanagh
    Favourite Paddy Kavanagh
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    Feb 28th 2018, 6:47 AM

    @Shoot Thepiano: ah jaysus

    28
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    Mute Minom Pnnomm
    Favourite Minom Pnnomm
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    Feb 28th 2018, 8:26 AM

    @Paddy Kavanagh: “bitten on the eye and the nose”. What a scaldybag.

    43
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    Mute John Considine
    Favourite John Considine
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    Feb 28th 2018, 8:27 AM

    There was a young man called Mulready,
    Who spent his days smoking some weedy,
    He lunged at a man,
    Got a whack of the pan,
    And now he’s feeling quite seedy.

    125
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    Mute Charles McCarthy
    Favourite Charles McCarthy
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    Feb 28th 2018, 7:07 AM

    Peg Sayers, go on, tell us, it was peg Sayers. No other stuff incites that kind of voilent reaction.

    86
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    Mute John Mc Donagh
    Favourite John Mc Donagh
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    Feb 28th 2018, 1:02 PM

    An auld fellow Mulready, John Paul
    Had no likening for poetry at all
    With a knife and a bite
    He vented his spite
    In a terribly vicious old brawl

    But the poet was also a trier
    He grabbed hold of the long handled frier
    And with no time to choose
    Used a bottle of booze
    And with gusto he vented his ire.

    57
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    Mute Crystal Class
    Favourite Crystal Class
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    Mar 2nd 2018, 2:41 PM

    @John Mc Donagh:
    Brilliant !!

    1
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    Mute Monty Donotno
    Favourite Monty Donotno
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    Feb 28th 2018, 10:08 AM

    “O vodka-bottle, great-spirited beverage,
    O body swayed to music, O brightening glance of steel,
    How can we know the biter from the bite?”

    27
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    Mute Oscar Brophy
    Favourite Oscar Brophy
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    Feb 28th 2018, 7:52 AM

    We are all going to die;
    John Paul is set on this.
    Certain, as his blade is sharp,
    Of his vitriolic aversion
    to verse

    28
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    Mute Jason Maguire
    Favourite Jason Maguire
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    Feb 28th 2018, 10:27 AM

    Constant noise from up the stairs
    Drink made him lose his fears
    He couldnt bear the recitation
    Going up diddnt help the situation

    21
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    Mute Wayne Scales
    Favourite Wayne Scales
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    Feb 28th 2018, 7:37 AM

    There was a young man from Dublin.

    20
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    Mute Rathminder
    Favourite Rathminder
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    Feb 28th 2018, 8:16 AM

    So what was it? Hours of Rimsky Korsakoff? What loud music do poets listen to?

    14
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    Mute oriainarama
    Favourite oriainarama
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    Feb 28th 2018, 8:14 AM

    Dublin man jailed for
    Stabbing his neighbour over
    Reciting poems

    14
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    Mute Niall O Neill
    Favourite Niall O Neill
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    Feb 28th 2018, 9:41 AM

    “Tear him for his bad verses. ” Taking Shakespeare literally!

    15
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    Mute Dave Henderson
    Favourite Dave Henderson
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    Feb 28th 2018, 10:44 AM

    Me neighbour’s a hard auld poetry man
    and a bloody good hand with a frying pan
    I stabbed him once in the leg, got no fried egg
    But a bottle of voddy to the skull
    De basrard.

    15
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    Mute Etherman
    Favourite Etherman
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    Feb 28th 2018, 8:36 AM

    Well, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, is it?

    8
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    Mute billy Dorney
    Favourite billy Dorney
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    Feb 28th 2018, 11:00 AM

    Pair of langers

    7
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    Mute Gavin
    Favourite Gavin
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    Feb 28th 2018, 12:50 PM

    Stab you I will you smelly poetry reciting shill,
    What’s that you say?!
    A bang of a frying pan and you will run away!
    Have some of that you moan!
    The last words he said before being bit and minus a phone..

    11
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    Mute Jim Fitzsimmons
    Favourite Jim Fitzsimmons
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    Mar 2nd 2018, 8:02 PM

    I was so full of sin
    I had to break in
    Grabbed me knife
    Evil now rife
    I asked him why
    And bit his eye
    Stabbed his knee
    Oh dear me
    Nicked his phone
    Sat listening alone
    Waiting for gardai
    Vomiting his poetry

    1
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