Five years for man who believed he was fighting demons when he pulled syringe on gardai

Trevor Curtis, aged 35 and of no fixed abode, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following guilty pleas to two separate offences. Curtis pleaded guilty to possession of a syringe to threaten injury or intimidate another person on Bedford Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin on April 14, 2014, and to robbery of a betting shop on Wicklow Street, Dublin on October 27, 2014. During the first incident, Curtis was experiencing hallucinations after consuming a head shop drug and believed he was being attacked by demons. When gardaí arrived, he was found holding a syringe which he waved aggressively, leading to his being pepper-sprayed. In the second offence, he jumped over the counter and brandished a syringe at a pregnant employee, demanding money. Judge Martin Nolan suspended the final year of the sentence and backdated it to 2014 when Curtis entered custody. Curtis has 43 previous convictions, including three for similar syringe-related offences.