Drug addict told woman he was wanted for murder

AFTER abducting a woman in her car, a heroin addict terrorised his victim as he forced her to drive through Limerick, telling her he was wanted for murder and rape and was taking her to Moyross where he had boys waiting for her.

James Kelly, aged 22, of Maple Court, Kennedy Park, Limerick, was yesterday jailed for four years at Limerick Circuit Court after pleading guilty to falsely imprisoning Caroline Moran at Colbert railway station on May 4.

He was sentenced to another consecutive year for a burglary, to which he admitted.

He also pleaded guilty to hijacking her vehicle and of robbing over €500 from her on the same date.

Detective Garda Gary Laide said the incident happened at about 9.30pm, shortly after Ms Moran, aged 38 and from Askeaton, returned to Limerick from working in Dublin.

Kelly, armed with a knife, approached Ms Moran as she returned to her car in the carpark of the railway station and asked her for the time.

Ms Moran immediately got into the back seat of the car and tried to lock the door as she sensed trouble.

“He had a look of evil in him,” Ms Kelly later told gardaí.

Kelly forced himself into the car and after taking €40 from her purse he held the knife to her throat and ordered her to drive to an ATM at the Roxboro Shopping Centre. There, he forced her to withdraw €500 from her account.

In a bid to disguise himself, he put on a coloured hat and gloves belonging to Ms Moran’s daughter.

During the ordeal, which lasted for more than 20 minutes, Kelly told Ms Moran he was “wanted for rape and murder” and that she was to do what he said. Ms Moran said Kelly also told her she did not know how dangerous he was.

He then ordered her to drive to Moyross, where he had promised boys he would bring her.

He also made a reference to notorious rape convict Larry Murphy.

John O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said the offence was “sinister and vicious”.

Reading a prepared victim impact statement to the court, Ms Moran said she had undergone counselling and was on medication due to the “shock and trauma” she experienced.

She said: “I, as the victim, had to make significant changes to my family and personal life in order to help me in some way overcome the events of May 4. I was unable to work for several weeks.”

Ms Moran told the court she has lost her self-confidence and broke down in the witness box as she described how her daughter’s First Communion, which took place three days after the incident, was ruined.

She said it was meant to be a special day but turned out to be a nightmare and “robbed” her of the happy memories she should have had for the rest of her life.

She can no longer travel alone and she said she fears she may have to give up her job as it involves regularly travelling to Dublin.

Ms Moran said she is unable to do tasks such as her weekly shopping and cannot travel by train anymore as Colbert station acts as a “constant reminder” of what happened to her.

Judge Carroll Moran was told the defendant, who has over 50 convictions, was on bail at the time of the incident and that there was an outstanding suspended sentence in relation to a separate offence.

Brian McInerney said his client, who was a chronic drug addict, lived an “appalling existence” and he said he never intended to hurt Ms Moran.

He added that his client had made wholesome admissions following his arrest and wished to apologise.

Mr McInerney said Kelly had witnessed the murder of his father when he was eight years old and that shortly afterwards he began taking drugs.

The defendant has also pleaded guilty to several other separate offences.

During one incident, the court heard he broke into the home of an elderly couple in the city and stole jewellery and more than €3,000 in cash from their bedroom as they slept.

In another case he snatched a tray of cash from a shop in the city centre and he also broke into several houses on the southside of Limerick City last year.