Man jailed over false imprisonment of pensioner in Offaly
A man has been jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to the false imprisonment of a pensioner at his home in Co Offaly.
Patrick McDonagh, 24, with an address at St Margaret's Park, Ballymun, Dublin 11 was one of four men involved in the incident, which happened at the home of James 'Jimmy' Donoghue in Walsh Island on 26 February last year.
Judge Keenan Johnson told Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court said it was a "nasty, vile, mean and horrible" crime and it was "clear the victim was terrorised by the culprits".
Judge Johnson set the headline sentence at ten 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 offence McDonagh had been given a two-year suspended sentence for drug possession.
He said behaviour such as 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 2km away from the crime scene and residents were concerned enough to contact the gardaí.
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 it which matched the victim.
An Audi Q7, stolen that day, was used to drive to the farmhouse.
The court heard earlier that gardaí received a call from the victim's brother shortly before 8pm on 26 February. John Donoghue 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 necktie.
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 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.
Mr Donoghue 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 was always locked.
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