Prison sentence for teenager who crashed jeep in Offaly after seizing it from other driver

A LATE night meeting involving an attempt to sell a car ended with a Hyundai jeep crashing into a pillar in Birr.

Tullamore District Court heard the detail of the circumstances which led up to Patrick McDonagh (19), St Brigid's Road, Portumna, Galway, being convicted for unlawfully seizing control of a vehicle.

Mr McDonagh appeared before Judge Andrew Cody this week for sentencing after being convicted of committing offences at Wilmer car park, Wilmer Road, Birr on February 14, 2022.

Judge Cody outlined that though Mr McDonagh had been represented by a solicitor, Brian Duffy, when he was first charged on December 14, 2022, the accused did not appear at most of the subsequent court appearances and bench warrants had to be issued.

He did appear in court on September 6, 2023 after a warrant was executed and he was remanded on bail for a hearing on last November.

However, Mr McDonagh did not appear for the hearing and it went ahead in his absence. His solicitor was present.

The main witness at the hearing was Sean O'Connor who said that he had driven his mother's jeep to Portumna to meet Patrick McDonagh. Mr O'Connor was accompanied by his friend David Gordon.

Judge Cody said the purpose of the meeting concerned the showing of a log book to Patrick McDonagh of a vehicle that was for sale by a friend of Sean O'Connor.

Mr O'Connor and Mr Gordon met Mr McDonagh at about 11pm or 11.30pm at what was described as a “swimming area”.

There were two people with Patrick McDonagh and they were subsequently identified by gardai as Louis Gaynor and Michael Ward.

Judge Cody stated that Sean O'Connor had said he was “very afraid” at that stage and Mr McDonagh told him to drive to Birr to meet his brother to show him the log book. Mr McDonagh got into the front seat.

As they approached Birr things began to get “very strange” and Mr O'Connor said that as they came to a bend the accused man tried to grab the steering wheel and it seemed as if he wanted to try and crash the car.

They eventually went to a 24-hour Applegreen in Birr where one of the other two men got out and went to the shop and then came back.

Then Patrick McDonagh went to the shop's hatch and when he came back he leaned in and tried to pull the seat belt off Mr O'Connor and grab the keys.

Mr McDonagh then got into the passenger seat and because “one of the lads” had taken the log book they pulled into a car park to get it back.

Then Mr McDonagh got out of the passenger side and went to the driver's side and pulled Mr O'Connor out of the driver's seat. The man landed on the ground.

Mr McDonagh then jumped into the driver's seat and Sean O'Connor jumped into the passenger seat.

The accused man then started driving and drove across the road and went around a bend near SuperValu and hit a pillar.

The hearing was told by Mr O'Connor that when the crash happened he was in the passenger seat and Mr Gordon was in the middle seat with two men on each side.

Everyone got out after the crash and the ambulance was called. The other two men said they were injured but walked away even though they said they couldn't walk.

Mr O'Connor told the hearing the other men never got into the ambulance and they all seemed very agitated.

Evidence was also given by a garda witness at the hearing. Garda Carroll said she was an observer in a patrol car when they received a report of an accident at 1.42am at Mill Street, Birr and when the gardai went there she met the five men.

Garda Carroll was told that Mr O'Connor and Mr Gordon agreed to drive to a swimming area in Portumna to meet Patrick McDonagh about the sale of a car.

There were two others present when they met him and they drove to a 24-hour shop in Birr where the crash occurred as described by Mr O'Connor.

Mr McDonagh was arrested and detained and made no admissions but he did say he was in the jeep and acknowledged during an interview that after the crash he jumped out of the driver's door and Sean O'Connor jumped out of the passenger door.

The accused man also said he thought there was smoke coming out of the car after the accident.

CCTV footage was played at the hearing and it showed Patrick McDonagh leaning into the driver's window, corroborating Mr O'Connor's evidence. Neither Mr Gaynor nor Mr Ward made statements.

Having heard the evidence, Judge Cody convicted Mr McDonagh in his absence. He was told the man had nine previous convictions and they all dated from 2020 and 2021 and involved public order offences, assault causing harm, criminal damage, unlawful carriage in a vehicle and breach of the Covid regulations.

Mr McDonagh was before the District Court this week for sentencing and defence counsel David Nugent (pictured below) said the young man had quite a dysfunctional upbringing and all of his previous convictions dated from when he was a juvenile.

He was apologetic for what he had done and while he would have described himself as a tearaway previously he was now settled. Mr Nugent asked the court to extend the young man leniency.

Along with the charge of unlawfully seizing the vehicle Mr McDonagh was convicted of driving without insurance and Judge Cody sentenced him to three months in prison, plus a four-year disqualification from driving.

Recognisances were fixed for an appeal.