A man has pleaded guilty to making a threatening phone call to former Cork hurling manager, Gerald McCarthy at the height of the dispute with the county hurling panel earlier this year.
Trevor O'Reilly (30) with an address at Anderson's Quay, Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork District Court to making a menacing phonecall to Mr McCarthy on March 5th, 2009 contrary to various Postal and Telecommunications Services Acts.
Sgt Mark Canning told an earlier sitting that Mr McCarthy's son Paul answered a phone call at 9.24pm on the night in question when a caller with a Northern accent asked him if he was through to the home of Gerald McCarthy.
Mr McCarthy's son confirmed that he had the correct number. "Tell him that this is the Continuity IRA in Tyrone and if he doesn't step down as Cork hurling coach, he's going to get a bullet in the back of the head," the caller said.
Judge Con O'Leary heard that O'Reilly had a history of pyschiatric illness going back to the mid-1990s. He said a psychiatric report showed that O'Reilly remained unrepentant over issuing the threat.
"This happened on March 5th and nine months later he is unrepetentant as regards the destruction that he caused in a personal way to Mr McCarthy and his family ," said Judge O'Leary. O'Reilly did not appear to grasp the terrible distress he had caused, he added.
O'Reilly's solicitor, Tom Coughlan said his client suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was impulsive and tended to compartmentalise issues. While he regretted the upset caused to Mr McCarthy's family, he didn't regret Mr McCarthy had stood down as Cork coach.
Mr Coughlan said that while O'Reilly pleaded guilty to the offence, he denied actually making the call himself and said he had loaned his phone to a friend. His client greatly valued loyalty and "didn't want to grass on his friend".
Judge O'Leary noted that Mr McCarthy and his family had indicated in a victim impact statement that they would "derive no comfort from any harsh treatment of the defendant by the court" and had asked him to be lenient towards O'Reilly.
However, the judge said he believed that O'Reilly had caused terrible personal distress to Mr McCarthy and his family and that could not be ignored.
Judge O'Leary imposed a nine month sentence but suspended the last eight months on condition that O'Reilly keep all medical appointments and take all necessary medication. "I am satisfied that the sentence is appropriate to the damage caused in this case," he said.
Speaking afterwards, Mr McCarthy said it had been "a very distressing time, very upsetting it was frightening, it was shameful and should never have occurred". He thanked all those who had supported him and the gardaí who investigated the case.