Crumlin man Karl Fay has avoided a custodial sentence
A criminal who survived several attempts on his life has avoided a jail sentence despite breaking the terms of his suspended sentence.
Crumlin man Karl Fay (24) appeared at Dublin District Court earlier this week, where he admitted trespassing at a building at York Road, Rathmines, on January 12 last with the intent of interfering with property.
The 24-year-old was caught with a 'fishing' implement commonly used by car thieves to rob keys from homes and apartments.
Fay's case was adjourned at Dublin District Court until January 11 next so that a Community Service Order Report can be prepared. He had appeared at Dublin Circuit Court on Friday when a judge decided not to reactivate a suspended sentence that was imposed for violent disorder.
Fay had been given a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for violent disorder in 2013 - one of the conditions of which was that he was not to be convicted of any criminal offence for four years.
So when he pleaded guilty to the trespassing offence at Dublin District Court, his violent disorder conviction was automatically sent back to Judge Patricia Ryan on Friday in the higher court, who decided that Fay should not go to jail.
The Dublin criminal has survived a number of attempts on his life in recent years.
In May of 2014 he was was brutally beaten with a wheel brace at a garage on the Crumlin Road. He was rushed to hospital after the sharp end of the wheel brace went through his eye and there were fears that it pierced his brain.
He was placed in a medically-induced coma following the incident but pulled through.
In April 2011 he had a miraculous escape after being lured by a pal to a park in Milltown in south Dublin and shot from point-blank range by a lone gunman.
He managed to stumble into the nearby Dropping Well pub covered in blood, where he collapsed. He spent weeks in hospital, but made a full recovery. Gardai said he only survived because the gun used to shoot him was small calibre.
In October 2012 shots were fired at him in Dublin’s south-inner city, but he managed to escape.
In the same month his young cousin was hit in a drive-by attack on Lismore Road in Drimnagh. The 16-year-old was shot in the back during the incident, although Fay was the intended target.
In 2009, Fay was at the centre of a national controversy when a murder trial collapsed after a 12-year-old key witness said he was unable to identify the killers.
Jason Curry (22), from Leighlin Road, Crumlin, and Karl Fay had been charged with the murder of David Rooney (35), who died after being beaten with a snooker cue and a golf club.
However, the trial collapsed after a 12-year-old key witness said he was unable to identify the killers.
In July 2010 Fay was jailed for five months and banned for driving for six years after being caught driving without insurance on dozens of occasions.
The court heard he had 13 convictions for driving without insurance, 15 for no driving licence and eight for dangerous driving.
Shuki Byrne & Ken Foy