Publican forced at gunpoint to burn out own car
Stephen Geoghegan, who runs the Cellar Bar in Abbeyfeale, suffered burns in the attack and was taken to Tralee General Hospital.
He was transferred to a specialist burns unit at University Hospital Cork, where he was treated for burns to the face and neck before being released.
Mr Geoghegan — in his late 20s — was abducted at about 3.30am on Wednesday from his home at Killarney Road, Abbeyfeale, where he lives with his partner and their young baby. According to local sources, a masked man with a handgun knocked at the front door of the house.
A local person said: “From what we hear, Stephen and his partner had taken the night off from the pub they are leasing and had been visiting friends in Newcastle West. They were feeding the baby when a knock came to the door.”
Mr Geoghegan was ordered into his 2008 Audi Coupe and forced to drive to a bogland area at Lyreacrompane in north Kerry, about 9km from Abbeyfeale.
Shortly after arriving he was pulled out of the car and another car drove up with three masked men.
At that point, one of the four-man gang poured petrol over Mr Geoghegan’s Audi and forced him at gunpoint to light a match to it.
When the car burst into a ball of flame, Mr Geoghegan suffered scorch wounds to his face and neck. According to another source in Abbeyfeale: “He managed to make his way to a house a few hundred yards away and the people there rang for an ambulance and the gardaí.”
Mr Geoghegan is well known in the pub trade in west Limerick, having worked as a barman in Newcastle West before leasing The Cellar bar. A joint Garda investigation is being headed by Superintendent Jim O’Connor, Newcastle West, and Supt John O’Riordan, Listowel.
