Seven years in jail for 'nasty, vile and mean' Offaly crime

A DUBLIN man who admitted falsely imprisoning an Offaly pensioner who was “terrorised” in his own home has been jailed for seven years.

Patrick McDonagh (24), Bay 9, St Margaret's Park, Ballymun, Dublin 11 was sentenced after Tullamore Circuit Court heard how a man had been tied up, beaten and robbed in his isolated rural farmhouse in Walsh Island.

“This was a nasty, vile, mean and horrible crime,” Judge Keenan Johnson told Patrick McDonagh today (Tuesday, June 3).

McDonagh had previously pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment of James (Jimmy) Donoghue at his home in Walsh Island, Co Offaly on February 26 last year.

He was one of four men involved and Judge Johnson said: “It was clear the victim was terrorised by the culprits.”

The maximum sentence is life imprisonment and because he ranked the offending in this case at the upper end of the middle range he set the headline sentence at 10 years and reduced that to seven when he took mitigating factors into account, including the repayment of €1,000 to the victim, now aged 67.

The judge said he would not suspend any portion of the sentence because less than a year before the Offaly offence Mr McDonagh had been given a two-year suspended sentence for drug possession.

He said behaviour such as Mr McDonagh's had a hugely negative impact on rural dwellers and the easy going approach to security, along with trust in the community, had been destroyed.

Previously, a sentencing hearing had been told that two cars were seen about two kilometres away from the crime scene and residents were concerned enough to contact the gardai.

Mr McDonagh was identified as the driver of one of them, a Ford Focus, and an item of his clothing was found to have bloodstains on hit which matched the victim. An Audi Q7, stolen that day, was used to drive to the farmhouse.

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In a victim impact statement Mr Donoghue 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.

Mr Donoghue, who attended both days at Tullamore Circuit Court when Judge Johnson was considering the sentence, said he was “grabbed by the clothes and shook” when the men were demanding money. He had blood coming from an ear where he had been punched in the head.

He said 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.

The sentence is back dated to when Mr McDonagh went into custody in January.