Man jailed for 'savage' vigilante attack on security men loses appeal
Fionnuala Walsh
One of three men who took part in a “brutal and savage” vigilante attack on security workers guarding a repossessed farmhouse in Roscommon, which involved forcing a man to eat dog faeces has lost an appeal against the severity of his 15-year sentence.
Delivering judgment on Thursday in the Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said that the three-judge court did not find any error in principle in the original sentence imposed on PJ Sweeney.
Sweeney, (59) of High Cairn, Ramelton, Co Donegal was sentenced along with two others to 15 years in prison after being found guilty in June 2023 of 15 charges in relation to the incident at Strokestown, including aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage to a door of the house.
The men were also found guilty of the false imprisonment of and assault causing harm to Ian Gordon, Mark Rissen, John Graham, and Gary McCourtney.
They were further convicted of three counts of arson in relation to three vans and to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by causing or permitting an animal to be struck on the head.
Sweeney’s co-accused Martin O’Toole (60) of Stripe, Irishtown, Claremorris Co Mayo and Paul Beirne (58) of Croghan, Boyle, Co Roscommon dismissed their legal teams in February this year ahead of their appeals, with O'Toole also being refused permission to read out a statement in court.
Ms Justice Kennedy rejected an argument by Sweeney’s lawyers that the trial judge had erred in failing to adequately take into the mitigating factors in relation to their client.
Defence counsel for Sweeney, Michael Bowman SC, previously contended the sentence imposed on Sweeney was “excessive and disproportionate”.
Counsel said his client had substantial mitigation in his favour, while O’Toole had offered “no mitigation whatsoever” and Beirne had accepted an organisational role in the incident.
He said at the time of sentence that his client was a 57-year-old man who was treated as a person of “good character” with no previous convictions and a long work history in the construction trade. He also had several family dependents. Mr Bowman said there had to be scope for “some aspect of suspension” in circumstances such as this.
However, Ms Justice Kennedy said that when ing sentence, Judge Martina Baxter could not engage with the prospect of rehabilitation in Sweeney’s case as there was “no evidence of insight, no remorse and no apology” on his behalf.
She said it was entirely within Judge Baxter's remit to give a sentence without a suspended element for what was a “brutal and savage attack”.
Counsel had also argued that Sweeney's culpability was less than that of others involved. He said case law clearly showed that even in a case of t enterprise, a court must take of differing levels of culpability.
Mr Bowman also suggested the judge should have set a headline sentence in the case and should have structured the jail term to balance punitive, deterrent and rehabilitative elements. He said the court, in imposing sentence, did not seek any “graduation of scale”.
Ms Justice Kennedy said the appeal court was not satisfied that any issue arose from the nomination of the headline sentences and that the judge imposed the appropriate penalty, which was the maximum for some offences.
She said that the purpose of the attack was to “inflict as much fear and terror as was possible” on the security men, who were operating within the law.
Ms Justice Kennedy said the fact that direct responsibility may not be laid at Sweeney’s door for compelling one man to eat dog faeces does not make the sentence nominated by the judge unjust or absolve him from moral culpability in of t enterprise to "terrorise and attack" the man in charge of the security operation.
She said the court would dismiss the appeal.
The trial of the three defendants heard that a group of armed men smashed their way into a house at a recently repossessed rural property at Falsk, just outside Strokestown, Co Roscommon, at around 5am on December 16, 2018.
These men were armed with weapons, including a baseball bat, a meat cleaver, a hurley, a nail-studded stick and a chainsaw, as they attacked the security men who were guarding the property.
The security men were beaten and forced to the ground, had their shoes removed, and their hands tied with cable ties. The windows and doors of the house were smashed, the men’s vans were set on fire, and a Belgian Shepherd dog was beaten unconscious and later had to be put down.
One of the security men said he had a gun put to his head and was ordered to crawl on the ground and eat dog faeces. Another told the trial that he was tied up, had his legs cut with a meat cleaver and was doused in petrol during the attack.
