mental

avalanche

remember that courier that killed someone by mistake....


MAN who took nearly €50,000 from various banks over a six-month period when he was addicted to crack cocaine has had his four-year sentence increased to eight years, writes Ann O'Loughlin. The Court of Criminal Appeal heard John O'Hegarty (33), of Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, has a diploma in journalism, a degree in philosophy and a Masters degree in psychoanalytic studies from Trinity College Dublin. He became addicted to crack cocaine after a man he knocked down with his bicycle died.

Last December O'Hegarty was sentenced to two years for 14 robberies and to a further two years for two robberies committed while he was on bail, with 18 months suspended.

Yesterday Ms Justice Fidelma Macken in the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal said the sentence was "not simply lenient but unduly lenient". The court, Ms Justice Macken said "takes the view that these offences are extremely serious".

Ms Justice Macken said a "significant feature" of the robberies was O'Hegarty's use of a firearm, and "inherent in the offences was a serious threat".

While he was on bail for the first 14 robberies, Ms Justice Macken said, O'Hegarty committed two further robberies "using the same modus operandi" with the firearm.

The court was obliged, she said, to impose a consecutive sentence on the second count as the robberies were carried out by O'Hegarty while on bail.

She noted that O'Hegarty, a 33-year-old former courier, was an "extremely intelligent, highly educated man from a good background".

In delivering judgment, she said the "more appropriate" sentence for the 14 robberies was a sentence of six years.

For the further two robberies, the court imposed a sentence of six years, with four years suspended to run consecutively.

During his original trial, the court heard how O'Hegarty would enter banks in various guises - sometimes as a builder and other times as a courier.

The court was told that O'Hegarty did not use the usual "foul or abusive language" heard at bank robberies but would politely tell the clerk to put the money into a bag.

Gavin

My god, if that's not an example of someone that needs to be rehabilitated and not incarcerated, I don't know what is. Scary what drugs can do.

niceonetom

what a sad story. 8 years is a very heavy sentence for someone who i wouldn't hold totally responsible for his actions. there are rapists who get much less. poor bastard.

Ghost Rider

I wonder if his education counted against him - that is, if the judge concluded that because he must have known "the difference between right and wrong" his circumstances couldn't have seen as properly extenuating.

I wonder what he thinks of his own sentencing. I'd like to hear his thoughts...

niceonetom wrote: »

what a sad story. 8 years is a very heavy sentence for someone who i wouldn't hold totally responsible for his actions. there are rapists who get much less. poor bastard.

Bicyclegadabout

This thread is wierd....

It's a very sad case. It really show's what guilt can do to a person. And later, what drugs can do to a person. The fact that this dude is educated and from a good background is saucy, but it doesn't really mean anything at all. Why the **** should it??

How and ever, he threatened people with a gun on 16 different occasions. 8 years plus four suspended isn't an unusual sentence, and a lot of people would consider that very lenient. Though, the original judge should've gotten the sentence right in the first place.

And of course.....the whole freakin' system is fecked maaaaaahn. Far too fecked for me to be able to comment on it with any real intelligence.

studiorat

I know this man. A gentleman too.
Apart from the guilt, also had a lot of trouble from various persons after that accident, threatened court cases etc.

He basically went in with the weapon in a newspaper and just flashed and passed a note, then cycled off. I had heard it was a replica fire arm by the way.
I would have said an average education. I believe he didn't finish the degree until he was in prison after giving it up while at college. And, he's not as upper class as those guys who kicked the fella to death outside Anabels night club, but there you go, the address was a rented flat. If he was really from a wealthy back round he would have a better chance in court IMO.
A year or two rehab and a spell on parole and they might have got their '€50,000' back.
Well that's the criminal justice system in Ireland for ya!

If anyone reckoned they were going to prison for 14 robberies and were sick from a drug withdrawal, they wouldn't think twice about doing another bank or two to get themselves sorted. Being sick like that is like living in parallel existence.

RDM_83

He's lucky he wasn't in the states some guy that used to be in Trinity (was in brothers year) just got 10 years for doing something similar to what your man did once.

I think whats suprising is that he got let out on bail in the first case since he was a crack addict that was convicted off armed robbery. I think that if people are going to blame the addiction and not the addict they should make sure damn sure that people are clean before they let them out.
And have a bit of pity too for the 16! people that probably thought they were going to be shot (since he was a crack addict that was presumably in withdrawel at the time doubt he looked like a "gentleman")

As an aside had he the masters in psychoanalysis before he hit and killed the guy (this the oldish man outside a bank of ireland building??) because if this drove somebody qualified in that area to this downward cycle due to guilt without recognising his symptoms what happens to other people in similar situations?

anyway there was a reason i went on this forum and it was to ask about panniers (damn procrastination from working)

Colleen 2008

I also know this fella (very well) He has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. Just lost his way, many of the group he hung out with did also. Heroin ruins your life and it always catches up with you in the end.

studiorat

Colleen 2008 wrote: »

I also know this fella (very well) He has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. Just lost his way, many of the group he hung out with did also. Heroin ruins your life and it always catches up with you in the end.

+1

mazdamiatamx5

The Indo have a ludicrous podcast on this guy, billing it as "Irelands most prolific bank robber". He wasn't even Irelands most prolific bank robber in 2004. Small scale stuff, though I wouldn't dispute that crack is a pretty bad addiction.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121095345#Comment_121095345

You are a contender for the oldest zombie thread resurrection.

magicbastarder

not worth reopening - thread closed