The fully suspended sentence handed down to a Louth on-bail offender who intimidated a witness by pursuing and repeatedly ramming their car was too lenient, the
Court of Appeal has ruled as it sent him to jail.
Conor McLoughlin (44), who has 30 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the intimidation of a witness at Drummullagh,
Omeath on March 27, 2022 and causing criminal damage to a Volkswagen Passat on the same date.
Two further counts of endangerment and dangerous driving were taken into consideration.
Sentencing McLoughlin, of Cornamucklagh, Omeath, Co Louth at
Dundalk Circuit Court in May 2024, Judge Dara Hayes set headline sentences of five years in respect of the intimidation and criminal damage charges before reducing these to four years after mitigation.
Each of the sentences were concurrent but were consecutive to a previous sentence which the court heard was due to expire in June 2024.
The judge then reduced the sentences to three and a half years each, on the basis of proportionality, before suspending the sentences in their entirety.
The trial heard evidence from a prosecuting garda that on March 27, 2022 Grainne McGuigan was driving through Omeath with members of her family when they noticed McLoughlin’s car and followed it to his family home in order to obtain photographic evidence that he was in breach of his bail conditions.
Ms McGuigan was a witness in a case against McLoughlin and one of the conditions of his bail was that he stay out of the Omeath area.
When McLoughlin noticed they were following him, he began to pursue their Volkswagen Passat after they had changed their direction of travel.
He rammed the car while it was travelling at between 60 and 70 miles per hour.
McLoughlin then rear-ended the victim’s vehicle another three or four times before he turned and drove towards his mother’s house.
When gardaí and members of the Armed Support Unit arrived at the property, McLoughlin was found hiding in the attic.
The court heard McLoughlin has 30 previous convictions, including three for assault, one for the breech of a barring order and a number for road traffic offences.
Quashing the original sentence at the Court of Appeal yesterday,Monday, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the court found the judge fell into error in fully suspending the sentences imposed.
He said there comes a point where, because of the “intrinsic seriousness” of the offence, there has to be a custodial element to the sentence.
He said the appellant was on bail in respect of other offences at the time of this incident and said one of the matters in that case related to a person who was part of Ms McGuigan’s extended family.
He said it had been contended that there was something of “a feud” between the families but noted it had been pointed out by the DPP that there had been no prosecutions in respect of the other family and it appeared McLoughlin “is the wrongdoer in a very major way” if not in a complete sense in terms of any disagreement between the families.
He said the circumstances of the case extended to endangerment and noted this had been taken into account when the sentence in respect of intimidation was imposed.
He said the ramming of the car on four or five occasions was a “very frightening experience” for those in the vehicle.
The intimidation of a witness is a very serious offence, Mr Justice McCarthy said, adding the courts must protect the administration of justice.
In resentencing McLoughlin, the judge set a headline sentence of five years in respect of the intimidation of a witness charge before reducing this by one year taking the plea of guilty into consideration.
Mr Justice McCarthy said the court would suspend the final year of the sentence for a period of two years, having regard to McLoughlin’s continued efforts at rehabilitation leaving a final sentence to be served of three years.
He also imposed a sentence of three years in respect of the criminal damage charge to run concurrently.
He said the sentence would commence from the date in June last year when McLoughin was released from custody in relation to the earlier matter.
Lawyers for McLoughlin asked the court to postpone his client’s return to custody for a period of time so that he could “put his house in order”.
Mr Justice McCarthy said the court would agree to this request and directed that McLoughlin present himself at Dundalk Garda Station on February 3.
At the appeal hearing earlier yesterday, Miska Hanahoe BL, for the State, argued that the headline sentence of five years set by the sentencing judge was too low.
She also submitted that the full suspension of the final sentence did not reflect the seriousness of the offending and represented an error in principle.
She said McLoughlin had effectively used his car “as a weapon”.
Rod O’Hanlon SC, representing McLoughlin, said the judge had acknowledged the seriousness of the intimidation of the witness and said the five year headline sentence was “bang on”, placing the matter between the border of the mid-range and lower range.
He said the majority of McLoughlin’s previous convictions were for road traffic offences.
He said the judge had also taken into account McLoughlin’s age and his previous difficulties with addiction issues and various other problems.
The judge had made it very clear, counsel said, that he was exercising what he recognised as an “exceptional course”.
