Two men were yesterday jailed for 20 and 12 years for holding a Cork businessman and his pregnant wife and family prisoner at gunpoint and threatening to kill them if he didn't hand over the takings from his chain of off-licences.
Gerard Clarke and Edward Gaffey had each pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Gary and Katie O'Donovan; to two firearms offences; and threatening to kill Mr O'Donovan at his home at Dewberry, Mount Oval, Rochestown, on May 2nd and 3rd, 2005.
Gaffey, from Clountygoura Court, Dundalk, Co Louth, had pleaded guilty to the offences at the outset but Clarke, from St John's Terrace, Upper John Street, Cork, only pleaded guilty last Friday after nine days of hearings at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Yesterday Judge Patrick Moran said it seemed to him that the raid on the O'Donovans and the subsequent holding of them at gunpoint was "a very well-planned operation to take people hostage in their own home in a terrorist-type manner for financial gain".
He said he believed that the ordeal to which Clarke and Gaffey had subjected Mr O'Donovan and his wife, who was six months pregnant at the time, "was one of the most horrific and appalling experiences that any couple could experience in their lifetime".
Supt Ger Dillane had told the court how Katie O'Donovan had been knocked to the ground by two masked raiders when she answered the door at around 9pm, and how they had held her at gunpoint until Mr O'Donovan returned home at 10pm.
Mr O'Donovan saw Gaffey pointing a gun at his wife and "went" for him and almost managed to get the gun off him after knocking him to the floor when Clarke zapped him with a 600,000 volt stun gun, forcing him to release Gaffey.
Mr O'Donovan then tackled Clarke and had almost got the stun gun off him when Gaffey hit him a number of blows on the head with the handgun, fracturing his skull and causing him to bleed profusely and give up his resistance to them, said Supt Dillane.
Supt Dillane told how a third raider also came to the house and Mr O'Donovan was told that he had better co-operate with them and go to his off-licence headquarters in Little Island the next day and collect the takings, or his wife and children would be killed.
He said that one raider took Ms O'Donovan upstairs while another guarded Mr O'Donovan after hooding him and tying his hands.
However, the raider fell asleep and Mr O'Donovan managed to free himself, escape from the house and raise the alarm.
He contacted his wife's brother-in-law, Sgt Gary McPolin, and together with armed officers, Det John McDonagh and Det Joe Young and others, they surrounded the house and captured Clarke and Gaffey as they left the house at around 3.15am. Yesterday Mr and Ms O'Donovan told the court of how their lives had been changed irrevocably by the incident, with both telling of how they found that they suffered from flashbacks and nightmares and had great difficulty sleeping.
Ms O'Donovan said she fears for the safety of both of her children and her husband.
"I'll never forget the horrible feeling of seeing a man with a balaclava going upstairs with a gun to where my children were sleeping," she said.
Mr O'Donovan said the worst times for him are when he leaves home and returns there again at night.
"The most important thing was that our home was violated - we no longer have a safe house," he said, adding the trial forced them to relive the trauma of the night.
Judge Moran noted that Clarke, of west Belfast, had previous convictions from Northern Ireland, including one for attempted murder, three for conspiracy to murder, 12 for firearms offences, nine for explosives, two for kidnapping and three for terrorist offences, including two for IRA membership.
"I must impose a penalty to emphasise to society that this kind of crime cannot be tolerated," he said as he sentenced Clarke to 20 years and Gaffey to 12 years.
