Brazilian man in foiled Offaly shooting plot jailed for four years

A BRAZILIAN man who was the driver of a car involved in a foiled attempt to carry out a shooting in Offaly last year has been jailed for four years.

Sergio Machado Filho (37), with an address at Temple Bar, Dublin 2, was one of four men who previously pleaded guilty to firearms offences committed at River Street, Clara on May 27, 2020.

Tullamore Circuit Court was told today (Friday, July 9) that Mr Filho was the driver of the second of two cars used in the incident and Judge Keenan Johnson heard a litre-bottle of petrol was found in the front passenger seat of his vehicle.

Mr Filho pleaded guilty to possession of a 9mm submachine gun and four 12-gauge shotgun cartridges which had been found by gardai when they stopped another car shortly after midnight.

Detective Garda Pat O'Connell said Mr Filho's Vauxhall Insignia had been clocked earlier driving through the toll gate on the M4 and all four men then met at the Applegreen filling station on the motorway and then stopped again at a filling station in Kilbeggan on their way to Clara.

The bottle of petrol was recorded on CCTV in the car in Kilbeggan and gardai believe it had been filled by one of Mr Filho's co-accused.

Mobile phones were seized and they indicated a pattern of communication between the two vehicles.

Det Garda O'Connell said Mr Filho had been in Ireland since April 20, 2019 and had not come to garda attention, nor were there any convictions recorded against him.

The court heard that the cartridges found in the other car were unsuitable for use in a shotgun which was also seized and while the machine gun was in working order, it was only capable of shooting one round at a time.

When first questioned by gardai, Mr Filho said he was in convoy with the other car but denied wrongdoing and said he was on his way to a barbecue in Tullamore.

A letter written by his wife, who lives in Brazil, was read in court and she described him as a good, hardworking and responsible man who had gone to Ireland to study English.

In December three co-accused, Ildomar Cabrar da Silva (29) of no fixed abode, and Jefferson Dos Santos (35) and Hugo Henrique Rodrigues (23), both of Ballymahon, Co Longford, all pleaded guilty to firearms offences and were sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison.

All four men also admitted breaching the Covid travel regulations which were in force at the time.

Judge Johnson said that though there were no guns in Mr Filho's car he was clearly acting in unison with the others but it seemed he was out of his depth and it was an extraordinary offence for a first offender.

Mr Filho has been in custody since his arrest on May 27 last year and Judge Johnson accepted evidence that his behaviour there was very good and he said it was ironic that having come to Ireland to improve his English, he was now improving it in prison.

He said the offence was an aberration and he imposed a seven-year sentence, suspending the final three years, and backdating it to when he first went into custody.

He made it a condition of the suspension that the man return to Brazil on his release and not come to Ireland for 10 years.

Previously the court heard the four-man gang were on their way to Tullamore to frighten an individual but Judge Johnson took the view that the enterprise could have gone fatally wrong.