Homeless charity worker (42) jailed for carrying knife on Luas and ranting about terrorists

Tom Tuite

A homeless charity worker, who began ranting at passengers about terrorists after armed gardaí intercepted him carrying a knife on Dublin’s Luas, has been jailed.

Anthony Brophy (42), who has spent most of his adult life homeless and featured in an RTÉ documentary about his life on the streets, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a knife, breach of the peace, failing to give gardaí his name and criminal damage to a Garda station cell which he soiled with his own bodily fluids and filth on April 9th, 2024.

He was handed a six-month prison sentence and banned from using the Luas for two years by Judge John Hughes at Dublin District Court on Thursday.

In evidence, Garda Anna Toland said that the incident unfolded at around 9.50pm after gardaí were alerted about a man on the Luas red line, travelling inbound.

She followed the tram, driving her patrol car along the tracks until Heuston station, and saw him on the tram before it continued to the Museum stop.

A Garda armed support unit was notified and waiting.

When Garda Toland got there, the knife was on the ground, and Brophy, of Maxwell Street, Dublin 8, had been disarmed using soft arm techniques.

However, he was verbally abusive, refusing to provide his name and “shouting at people about terrorists” and saying “what were they doing on the Luas and looking at him”.

The court heard that he was taken to Kevin Street Garda station and charged as “unknown” because he would not disclose his name, which he withheld until he appeared in court the following day.

Judge Hughes noted that when Brophy was kept overnight, he urinated, spat and defecated in a holding cell.

The court heard he had 25 prior convictions, including one incident where he was caught carrying three knives on a date in 2017.

However, he had never received a prison sentence.

Judge Hughes inquired about the circumstances of how the knife was detected. Garda Toland said the ASU officers informed her Brophy had it in the buckle of his belt or down his trousers when they met him.

State Solicitor Rory Staines confirmed a member of the public reported a knife being brandished, but with no witness or evidence to support it, Brophy was charged only with possession.

It was not in open view when the ASU arrived.

Paul Larkin Coyle BL, defending, told the court his client is going to be a father to his first child later this year.

Mr Larkin Coyle informed the judge that Brophy now worked as a security guard but was also training for a job in construction, and wants to provide stability for his child and contribute to society.

Counsel described Brophy’s experience of being homeless for 25 years as desolate, but detailed his involvement with charities to publicly assist in providing accommodation to others, and a pro-social lifestyle now.

Stressing positive developments, Mr Larkin Coyle said his client featured in an RTÉ documentary on the homeless crisis, which helped him to get accommodation.

The barrister said Brophy was employed as a fisherman at the time and, coming home from work, still had the knife, and it should never have happened.

However, the judge, having been shown the blade, did not accept that as a reason. “It is not a situation where he had just walked off the beach with a fishing rod and a knife, he was travelling on the Luas with a knife in his hand,” he remarked.

Brophy stood silently throughout the hearing.

Judge Hughes noted all the factors, including the previous offending, and cited the Minister for Justice that there should be an expectation of a possible prison sentence for knife crime.

He had set a headline sentence of nine months but suspended the final three while ordering Brophy to attend anger management counselling and remain on supervised probation for two years.