Offaly pensioner tied up and robbed in his isolated rural farmhouse

A MAN is facing a possible maximum sentence of up to life in prison and a fine of €20,000 for his part in a raid on a rural Offaly household where a pensioner was tied up and robbed.

A sentencing hearing at Tullamore Circuit Court heard today (Thursday, May 29) that Patrick McDonagh, a 24-year-old with an address at Bay 9, St Margaret's Park, Ballymun, Dublin 11 had previously pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment of James (Jimmy) Donoghue at his home in an isolated part of the Walsh Island area on February 26 last year.

Mr McDonagh, who has been in custody since January of this year, also admitted the unauthorised use of a vehicle on the same occasion.

Replying to William Fennelly, BL, prosecuting, Detective Garda David Harney outlined to the court how gardai had first been alerted at 3.55pm on that date by a man living less than two kilometres away from the victim who said his daughter had seen males, one of whom was wearing a balaclava, alighting from a Ford Focus and getting into a black Audi Q7.

The Audi later returned and one of the males got into the Ford Focus. Patrick McDonagh was subsequently identified as the owner of the Ford Focus because a neighbour of the first man had CCTV and also photographed the vehicle, its driver and its number plate.

At 7.55pm gardai received a call from John Donoghue that he had had called to his brother's home where he found him in a state with the house ransacked.

He had been assaulted and tied up with a neck tie. The perpetrators, who had arrived in his backyard in an Audi, said they were looking for money and threw away his phone.

The man, who is now aged 67, managed to free himself from the neck tie but could not make a call himself because he had no phone.

Initially he did not tell the four raiders where his money was but eventually did so and those responsible took €1,000.

James Donoghue told his brother that he should have informed the men sooner because then his ordeal, which lasted about half an hour, would have been over more quickly.

Detective Garda Harney said John Donoghue had been told by his brother that he was embarrassed at what had happened and did not want to tell anyone.

The garda said police soon made a link between the earlier reports regarding the vehicles and the raid on Mr Donoghue and traced the Ford Focus to St Margaret's Park in Dublin.

The car was still there when they went there later and Detective Garda Harney and a colleague kept watch to see if it would drive out.

The following morning it was seen leaving Bay 9 by Detective Garda Andrew Dolan and it was seized and analysed.

A search of the residence resulted in a bloodstained garment being found which matched an item being worn by the accused man and analysis by the laboratory at Forensic Science Ireland established that the blood was Jimmy Donoghue's.

When Mr McDonagh was arrested he exercised his right to silence, even when the DNA evidence was put to him.

Detective Garda Harney further detailed that the Audi had been stolen that morning in Co Meath and it was located three weeks later being driven along the northbound lane of the M50 in Dublin.

Between the time of the Walsh Island incident and its seizure it had been used in three other incidents, including one where a trailer was stolen.

The court was told Mr McDonagh had 11 previous convictions and the Walsh Island offence was committed during the period when a suspended sentence was in place.

The man had convictions for road traffic offences, drugs, criminal damage and assault.

Jimmy Donoghue was present in court for the sentencing hearing, accompanied by his brother John and a victim impact statement was read in court by Detective Garda Harney.

Mr Donoghue, now aged 67, said he lived alone in an isolated farmhouse and was in receipt of a disability payment.

He said he was scared for his life when the men came into his house shouting “Where is the money?” and they ransacked his house, took €1,000 from him and a bank card and book.

He said he was “grabbed by the clothes and shook” when they were demanding money.

He still had a lump on a finger but it was no longer paining him. “My wrists were also tied but this didn't cause me too much pain.”

He had blood coming from an ear where he had been punched in the head but he said that thankfully he had no long lasting injuries.

He added that he was very nervous leaving home since and kept a chain around his gate at the end of his lane so people would think it's always locked.

After hearing the evidence from the prosecution Judge Keenan Johnson praised the witnesses who had first alerted the gardai about the vehicles and people they had seen.

Though they were “amateur sleuths” they deserved great credit and were an example of what good neighbourhood watch is all about.

Cross examined by David Nugent, BL, for Mr McDonagh, Detective Garda Harney said there were four people in total involved in the raid and he anticipated that the other three would also be brought to justice.

The garda agreed that Mr McDonagh had not driven the Audi and there was no evidence he had been involved in its theft.

Mr Nugent said the accused man issued a “heartfelt” apology to the victim but he agreed with Judge Johnson that the money had never been recovered.

Outlining Mr McDonagh's family background, he said he had grown up in Tallaght, attended two primary schools there, followed by second level education at Firhouse Community College but left in First Year because of bullying on account of his upbringing.

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He had played hurling and Gaelic football in his youth, and also boxed but in 2014 himself and his brother came across his father trying to set himself alight after pouring petrol on his person.

They took the matches from their father, a man who was in the depths of depression at the time and had a long history of suffering from mental illness.

The impact of that incident on the accused was profound and had a destabilising effect on him. It was not the first such attempt by the accused's father.

He felt alone, rejected and unwanted and his mother was there but she was struggling with her husband's difficulties and it was his sibling and aunt who took over Patrick McDonagh's parenting.

Family members of his ran a business in Dublin and they were very ashamed of what he had done and believed the attack on the man was “heinous”.

The accused went on to use cocaine and alcohol as “crutches” but had gone on to engage in counselling for his addiction and also worked with a Traveller workshop. He got married in 2019.

He had pleaded guilty to save the injured party any further trauma and this point in life should be the lowest point and it should be better from now on.

Detailing the maximum penalties available to the court, Mr Fennelly said that along with life for false imprisonment and a €20,000 fine for unauthorised use of a vehicle, a five-year sentence could also be imposed for the latter offence.

Judge Johnson said the offences were very serious and he would need time to consider the sentence.

“It's quite clear that the victim was terrorised and these type of offences are far too prevalent,” he said.

Such offences undermined trust in rural Ireland and have adversely impacted on the wellbeing and sense of safety of rural Ireland.

The court would have to sent out of very clear message that a significant sentence should be expected, not only to punish the perpetrators but to register society's abhorrence at this “appalling behaviour”.

The judge commended Mr Donoghue for his bravery in the face of such adversity. “It was an appalling experience to have endured.”

He said he would deliver his sentence on Tuesday, June 3.