A MAN who is serving a life sentence for the murder of a young mother has been jailed for a further 10 years for choking and falsely imprisoning a five-year-old girl.
Gerard McGrath (24), who was sentenced to life last month for the murder of Sylvia Roche Kelly (34) in a Limerick hotel, appeared before Clonmel Circuit Court yesterday. The court heard how McGrath entered the bedroom of the five-year-old daughter of John and Mary Kelly and squeezed her throat with his hands before he tried to carry her out of the house.
Det Sgt John Long, of Tipperary Garda station, told Judge Thomas Teehan that McGrath broke into the Kellys’ house at Kilnamanagh Manor, Dundrum, Co Tipperary, at 3.30am on October 9th, 2007.
He said McGrath looked into the parents’ bedroom and then went into their daughter’s room.
Det Sgt Long said the girl “possibly woke up and Mr McGrath put his hands around her throat and squeezed, thereby stopping her from crying out”.
Det Sgt Long said that at this stage McGrath lifted her out and began carrying her downstairs.
Mary Kelly, the child’s mother, woke and saw McGrath with her daughter and began shouting.
McGrath tried to leave the house but the front door was locked. He threw the girl on to the couch and was overpowered by the girl’s father and held until gardaí arrived. McGrath, of Ballywalter, Cashel, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing harm and false imprisonment, and four counts of burglary relating to the incident.
The incident occurred just two months before McGrath murdered Ms Roche Kelly at the Clarion Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick, on December 8th, 2007.
Her naked body was found lying face-down in the bath by hotel staff the next afternoon. She had been beaten and choked to death.
The court yesterday heard a victim impact statement for the five-year-old girl which said her “feeling of security in her own home and bedroom had been robbed from her”. She regularly asked her parents: “What was this mad man going to do with me?”
Her father told the court: “This is the worst crime a parent can imagine. To come so close to losing our daughter but succeeding in protecting her is both deeply frightening and joyful.
“The sight of McGrath running around the house with our daughter in his arms will remain with my wife for the rest of her life. Mary was very strong in chasing after McGrath to prevent him from leaving the house with our daughter, but that strength has to be paid for in shock, anger and post-traumatic stress.”
Frank Quirke, for McGrath, said his client came from a respectable family but that he had suffered from alcohol addiction and had lost a child with a partner.
Judge Teehan said people had a right to expect and enjoy safety and security in their own home and that, on this night, the Kelly family were not able to do so.
Passing sentence, the judge said he took into account McGrath’s plea of guilty and his admissions to gardaí.
He sentenced McGrath to 10 years for false imprisonment, eight years for the charges of burglary and four years for assault causing harm, with all sentences to run concurrently together and with McGrath’s earlier sentence.
The husband of the late Sylvia Roche Kelly said there were “serious questions” as to why Gerard McGrath was released on bail after his arrest in October 2007 – two months before she was murdered. “By twice granting bail to this extremely dangerous person, the State gave him freedom which he used as an opportunity to murder Sylvia,” said Lorcan Roche Kelly.