Gang rapist Thomas O'Neill moved beside hated rival Dessie Dundon for having ‘shiv' in prison
Heroin dealer O'Neill was moved 'on punishment' to the Challenging Behaviour Unit (CBU) in Cork prison late last month
Dessie Dundon is serving life for the murder of Kieran Keane
Thomas O'Neill is serving two years for dealing heroin and cocaine
Vile gang rapist Thomas O'Neill has been moved from the Midlands to Cork prison — just doors away from hated rival Dessie Dundon — after the predator was caught with a 'shiv' in his cell.
Heroin dealer O'Neill — who is serving a two-year-sentence for drug offences — was moved 'on punishment' to the Challenging Behaviour Unit (CBU) in Cork prison late last month.
His new cell is one landing beneath and six cells down from infamous gangster Dessie.
Dessie is currently 21 years into a life sentence for the murder of rival crime boss Kieran Keane and the attempted murder of Keane's nephew, Owen Treacy, in Limerick in January 2003.
Now, sources say there are major fears in the Munster prison that the proximity of the two could lead to unrest in the prison.
O'Neill's wife April Collins was a State witness
'There was a lot of surprise that O'Neill would be sent down here when we are already holding Dessie,' the source said.
'Anyone who is in any way familiar with what happened in Limerick would know these two have no reason to have any fondness for each other.
'Hopefully it's a very short-term arrangement as he's only down on punishment after he was caught with a shiv in his cell in the other place.
'Nobody wants to see what would happen if they somehow came face to face.'
O'Neill, notorious in his own right for his involvement in the Cratloe Woods gang rape, came to the attention of the Dundon gang in 2017 when he married State witness April Collins.
Collins is the former partner of Dessie's brother Ger.
Her evidence in the Shane Geoghegan murder trial saw Dessie's brother John jailed for life.
She also gave evidence against another brother, Wayne, who was subsequently jailed for life for the murder of innocent businessman Roy Collins.
Dessie Dundon is serving life for the murder of Kieran Keane
Similarly to the Dundons, O'Neill is heavily involved in drugs in Limerick.
In November 2024, he admitted six counts under the Misuse of Drugs Act and was jailed for two years for having cocaine and heroin for sale or supply in Limerick city.
O'Neill's sentencing hearing, held before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, heard that an armed Garda unit saw the mobster allegedly drug-dealing while leaning into the rear of a Hyundai Tucson car, outside a house at Hyde Avenue.
When the armed gardaí approached O'Neill, he became aggressive in an effort to distract the officers who observed drugs deals on the rear seat of the vehicle, it was heard.
Gardaí seized the car and found 23 heroin deals and 18 deals of cocaine bagged up on the rear seat. Gardai also obtained CCTV evidence showing O'Neill and two others engaging in drug dealing. Gardai searched O'Neill's home and found seven more heroin deals, drug paraphernalia, as well as a set of keys to and registration certificate for the Hyundai Tucson.
Prison shiv
After his arrest, O'Neill told gardaí the drugs were for his own use, that he smoked ten bags of heroin a day, and that the deal bags were for 'bird seed and seeds for flowers'.
Prosecuting barrister, John O'Sullivan, said while the total amount of drugs seized from O'Neill (€616) might have been regarded as a low amount by some, it demonstrated the thug was actively dealing cocaine and heroin.
Mr O'Sullivan described O'Neill as a 'veteran of the criminal justice system since he was a juvenile', and he highlighted O'Neill's conviction and nine-year sentence in 2004 for his leading role in 'a gang rape that achieved considerable notoriety'.
O'Neill was one of four youths and an adult man who raped a woman at Cratloe Woods, Co Clare, on January 23, 2004.
Thomas O'Neill and Dessie Dundon
News in 90 seconds - 12th May 2025
O'Neill, Dean Barry and Darragh Ryan, were all aged 16 at the time and their accomplice Jason Ring was 14.
The four were armed with a golf club, a screwdriver, a shovel and a wheel brace, and threatened the woman and a male who had travelled to the woods in the early hours of the morning.
O'Neill and his accomplices ordered the pair out of their car and struck the woman with a golf club after she refused to give one of the gang a kiss.
The man was ordered into the boot of the vehicle while the four youths took turns raping the woman in the car.
The gang threatened to burn the car with the man inside it, and assaulted him a number of times with the golf club.
O'Neill and the others pleaded guilty to rape, false imprisonment and assault causing harm, and were jailed for a total of 31 years.
April Collins and Ger Dundon
O'Neill was described by then sentencing judge Paul Carney, now deceased, as the 'ringleader' and the 'director of operations' of the gang. He was jailed for ten years with the final 12 months suspended.
Mr O'Sullivan told O'Neill's sentencing hearing for drug dealing that O'Neill had previous convictions for violent disorder, assault with intent to cause bodily harm, false imprisonment, intimidating a witness, robbery, having a mobile phone in jail, affray, possessing drugs for sale or supply, and road traffic offences.
O'Neill's' barrister, Liam Carroll BL, told the drugs sentencing hearing that O'Neill was struggling with heroin addiction at the time and that he is currently on a drugs treatment programme in prison and engaging in education and cookery classes inside.
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