Two "off their heads" men violently hijacked a woman's car and then filmed their 160 km/h road "rampage" from Athlone to Dublin on Snapchat before crashing, a court heard.
Dylan Poynton, 27, of Castlegrove, Castlepollard, and 21-year-old David Marshall, from Newtown Lawns, Mullingar, both in Co Westmeath, pleaded guilty to a hijacking on the morning of November 14th last year.
The jobless duo, who never worked and have had drink and drug problems since their early teens, appeared at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing on Friday.
Father-of-two David Marshall was jailed for seven years after Judge Keenan Johnson suspended the final 12 months of an eight-year term of imprisonment.
He imposed an eight-year sentence on Poynton but adjourned finalising his case until July to consider a probation report and whether to suspend the last year of the father-of-four's jail term.
Detective Garda Conor Murphy told the court that the victim had driven into a car park near Athlone rail station just after 7 am to get a train to Dublin for work.
However, two men in balaclava masks opened the front doors of her Nissan Micra, shouting, "Get out".
Poynton grabbed her and pulled her out, screaming. She tried to get the car keys but was pushed and fell to the ground.
The pair took turns driving the car and filmed each other for a series of Snapchat posts, laughing and jeering while blaring music as they sped along the M4 to Dublin.
One video played in court showed the driver holding a beer bottle, and another clip focused on the speedometer at 160 km/h.
Judge Johnson branded the pair's actions as despicable and said the footage showed a rampage and the worst incidents of dangerous driving he had ever seen.
The two men seemed as if they were on "a suicide mission", and it was a miracle they did not cause carnage during the drive, he remarked.
Detective Garda Murphy said gardai along the route received numerous reports of "outrageous" driving.
The judge noted that the stolen Micra went between two cars on the motorway at one point.
A patrol car in Lucan, Co Dublin, started following the vehicle when it reached Lucan Co Dublin two hours after the hijacking.
The Micra, now driven by Marshall, crashed into the wall of a house, causing €2500 damage to the property.
Their phones were found in the car, and gardai later unlocked them to recover their Snapchat videos.
The pair fled, but Marshall was found nearby while Poynton went "on the run" until being spotted at a petrol station about two months later.
Marshall had 96 prior convictions, many for driving offences as well as attempted robbery and robbery.
He had been on a suspended sentence and bail and subject to a 10-year road ban when the hijacking occurred.
When questioned, he told gardaí he was sorry and that he "felt like a scumbag".
Judge Johnson expressed severe disappointment in Marshall after the criminal justice system spent hundreds of thousands of euros trying to rehabilitate him when he was younger.
Poynton's 24 prior convictions included dangerous driving, and he had a two-year road ban.
In tears, the victim told the court she had held down two jobs and had bought the car and a house, but she no longer drives in the darkness and has lost her independence.
She has suffered anxiety, panic attacks, depression and PTSD since then, attends counselling and was at a loss of €6,500.
Poynton sat with his head bowed as she gave her evidence. The court heard that on the morning in question, the men were "off their heads" on drink and drugs.
The hijacking, also captured on CCTV, was the culmination of earlier incidents by the pair in the area that morning.
Stephen Byrne BL, for Marshall, asserted that the contrast between the defendants and the victim could not have been more stark. Citing his client's reference to himself as a scumbag, counsel said it was difficult to disagree with that characterisation of the pair.
The two men apologised through their barristers but did not address the court.
Andrea Callan BL, representing Poynton, said that the accused had been living in several locations at the time after a relationship breakdown, and it was lucky there were no fatal consequences to the incident.
Connected charges for dangerous driving and criminal damage to the wall in Lucan were taken into consideration.
