Jail for chainsaw mob who attacked security guards

Patrick Sweeney, Paul Beirne and Martin O'Toole were found guilty of 15 charges

Three men have been sentenced to 15 years each in connection to a "sustained and brutal" gang attack in County Roscommon in December 2018.

Dublin Circuit Court heard up to 30 men were present when four security guards at a repossessed house in Strokestown was targeted.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported the men were armed with chainsaws, pickaxes, meat cleavers and baseball bats, among other weapons.

The property had been seized by KBC bank and its owner Anthony McGann had been forcibly removed five days prior to the attack.

Martin O'Toole, 59, of Stripe, Claremorris in County Mayo, 44-year-old Patrick Sweeney of High Cairn, Ramelton in County Donegal, and Paul Beirne, aged 57, of Boyle in County Roscommon were found guilty of a number of charges relating to the attack.

All three men had denied the charges.

A group of 20 to 30 men arrived to the repossessed house in Falsk

Two of the men, O'Toole and Sweeney, were captured on the guard's security cameras.

During the trial the court also heard Beirne drove a lorry carrying the gang to the property on the night of the attack.

The security guards were seriously assaulted during the incident, their vehicles were set alight and the property's windows and doors were smashed.

A German Shepherd dog, which had to be euthanised after the attack, had been beaten unconscious.

One of the security guards, who told the court he thought he was going to die, had been forced to eat the dog's faeces.

The judge called this act "truly callous and horrifying" and it had amounted to "gratuitous degradation and humiliation".

Absence of humanity

A jury had previously found all three of the men guilty of false imprisonment and assault causing harm to four security guards.

They were also found guilty of arson to three vehicles, aggravated burglary, criminal damage, violent disorder, and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

However, they were not found guilty of two additional charges - arson to a Vauxhall car and the robbery of a wristwatch.

On Friday, Judge Martina Baxter said the crimes were "highly organised and deliberate" with "calculated brutality".

She said there was a "large absence of mitigation" factors and an absence of humanity from the men.

Ms Justice Baxter imposed different lengths of sentences for the various counts, all to run concurrently and backdated, with the longest term 15 years in prison with no element of suspension.