A man who broke into the home of a Co Donegal couple and attacked them with a poker and a wheel brace has been jailed for seven years.
James Gallagher called to the home of Edward and Rose Sweeney at Doagh Beg, Fanad on the evening of September 23rd, 2018.
Along with another intruder, they burst their way into the remote farmhouse and terrified the middle-aged couple.
The men then began shouting and roaring about the whereabouts of a white van and demanding €15,000.
The couple were then subjected to a horrific ordeal which saw Mr Sweeney attacked and beaten with a poker after which he had to be hospitalised.
The couple’s home was also ransacked during the terrifying home invasion.
Gallagher, a 37-year-old career criminal from Cushlawn Park in Tallaght in Dublin, appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court charged with aggravated burglary.
Details of the couple’s ordeal were given in court by Garda Sergeant Gerard Dalton.
Mrs Sweeney was on the phone and Mr Sweeney was feeding a sick calf when the two thugs arrived at their home.
They began shouting about a white van and €15,000 with Mrs Sweeney stating later that her son owned a white van.
Mrs Sweeney said she was “dragged outside” and the men were ‘effing and blinding’ and demanding money.
Once they came across Mr Sweeney they began to attack him with a poker and a wheel brace leaving him covered in cuts and bruises.
The men also ransacked the house damaging pictures, a lamp and a television and took the couple’s two mobile phones with them as they left.
They also smashed the couple’s sitting room window.
Mrs Sweeney alerted a neighbour who contacted Gardai and a hunt for the two intruders was launched immediately.
A couple of hours later that evening tow men were arrested by the PSNI in Strabane after Gardai alerted their counterparts in Northern Ireland.
The men were found in possession of two mobile phones, a poker, a wheel brace, a screwdriver and matched a description put out by Gardai.
A poker on the rear seat of the car was examined and was found to victim Edward Sweeney’s blood on it.
Gallagher was arrested and spent some time on remand in jail in Northern Ireland.
The court was told that on August 26th, 2019 at Cloverhill Prison in Dublin, Gallagher was arrested and taken to Tallaght Garda Station for interview about the burglary but made no comment when interviewed.
However, clothing seized by the PSNI was given to Gardai and DNA and forensics carried out showed a grey hoodie worn by the accused had Edward Sweeney’s blood on it.
Sergeant Dalton said that although the Sweeneys were aware the case was ongoing, they did not want to provide victim impact statements but just “want to get the situation behind them.”
A medical report on Mr Sweeney showed that he suffered multiple cuts and bruises to his face and body and also had to receive a number of staples to an injury on top of his head after his ordeal.
Barrister for Gallagher, Ms Fiona Pekaar, said her client had left school at 14 and had experienced a lifetime of offending which had become more serious in recent years.
A close friend had died fro a drug overdose in his arms in 2008 and this appeared to set him off on a ten year crime spree until 2018.
However, he has a very supportive partner and five children and is trying to change having been in prison since late 2018.
He has say his Junior Certificate in prison and hopes to go on to sit his Leaving Certificate also.
Ms Pekaar added that Gallagher realises he faces a substantial sentence but she asked Judge John Aylmer to “leave the door open for him.”
Once released from prison he plans to move in with his partner and move far away from the people he has previously mixed with.
She said “He knows that when he leaves prison he will have to hit the ground running and he wants to get work so never to be sucked into this life again.”
A letter written by Gallagher’s eldest daughter was handed into court which said she has seen a major change in her father since he went into prison.
Passing sentence Judge Aylmer said there were a number of aggravating features of what was a “very violent confrontation.”
He noted that Mr Sweeney, in particular, had suffered a fairly severe beating with multiple metal weapons.
Before mitigation he placed the crime at the upper end of the scale of such offences and one which merited a sentence of 12 years in prison.
In mitigation he said Gallagher had pleaded guilty but said there was a strong forensic case against him and that he also appears to be genuinely remorseful.
He also noted that he has the support of his family with whom he wants to re-engage with and that he also wants to work once he gets released from prison and that he is a good and interested father.
To give him credit for these efforts, Judge Aylmer reduced the headline sentence to one of 9 years in prison.
He also said he needs to give Gallagher hope for the future and agreed to suspend the final two years of that sentence on agreement that he enter a bond to keep the peace for two years once released and go under the care of the Probation Services.
He also backdated the seven year sentence to October 18th, 2022 when Gallagher went into custody for these offences.
“There is a lot of work to be done for Mr Gallagher,” added Judge Aylmer.