A man who stabbed a 14-year-old’s hand with a shard of glass as he was trying to rob an e-scooter from the teenager has been jailed for 3½ years. Daniel Hayes (30) later claimed that he had not used glass on the victim, and suggested that the glass fell out of the scooter. He said that he had potentially caused the cut to the teenager’s hand by scraping him with his nail during the struggle.Hayes said he had just bought cannabis from a drug dealer nearby and that this man told Hayes that if he got the scooter off the teenager a pre-existing drug debt would be cleared. Hayes, of Bishop Street flats, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery and assault causing harm in Dublin city on August 9th last year. He has 126 previous convictions, which are all from the District Court, and include convictions for stealing vehicles, criminal damage, possession of stolen property and drugs.Garda Saman Grewal told Oisín Clarke, prosecuting, that Hayes ran up to the teenager and tried to take the e-scooter off him. The teenager was outside his home at the time. Hayes didn’t manage to take it and produced a shard of glass, cutting the hand of the victim in the process. He was still not successful taking the e-scooter and ran off. Hayes was later identified by gardaí after they viewed footage from neighbouring homes. The teenager’s mother was a nurse and she immediately dealt with the injury. He was taken to hospital but the doctor felt that his skin was too thin to allow for stitches. There was no medical report before the court. Clarke said a statement from the doctor said the wound “was not too bad, not too deep but it bled a lot”. They applied a dressing and sent the teenager home. He still has some scarring on his hand. Grewal said there no victim-impact statement before the court. The teenager is frightened and feels vulnerable as the incident happened outside his home, but Clarke confirmed that Hayes has not caused further trouble for the family. Pieter Le Vert, defending, said his client was immediately remanded in custody but he was released by “mistake” at some point later. Hayes then contacted his solicitor, and the prison service was alerted. Counsel submitted to the court that Hayes then “effectively turned himself in”.LeVert said his client had a difficult childhood and his mother moved them out of the family home due to violence there. He did not receive a good education. Hayes started abusing drugs at 17 years old, moving from tablets to cannabis to cocaine. He carried out work around the city with a horse and carriage but “drugs took over his life and he began to spiral out of control”, counsel said.He said Hayes’s previous convictions relate to his drug addiction. His brother died in tragic circumstances, Le Vert said. He added that Hayes’s first partner died in 2002; they had two children together. His second partner died in 2024 after she suffered a seizure due to a miscarriage. LeVert said his client “carries an immense burden of guilt” which led to his addiction. His mother is often in hospital also, which causes him concern while he is on remand in custody. Counsel submitted that despite his significant number of convictions, Hayes does not have a history of violence and “is frankly horrified by what he did”. Judge Orla Crowe said the case “clearly marks a notable escalation in his offending – not only violence but it relates to a child”. The judge described Hayes’s actions as both “cowardly and shameful”.She said a headline sentence of six years was justified before she imposed a sentence of four years. The judge suspended the final six months of that term on strict conditions for two years including that Hayes engage with the Probation Service for 12 months upon his release after accepting evidence that he wants to access treatment. The sentence was backdated to when Hayes first went into custody in August 2025.