Armed raider threatened to kill family

A RAIDER wearing a balaclava prodded a loaded sawn-off shotgun into the stomach of a woman and told her that he would blow her head off during the course of an armed robbery, a court has heard.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Detective Sergeant Kevin O’Hagan said Simon Gentles also pointed the weapon in the face of Nora Fitzpatrick’s son Barry, 14, during an aggravated burglary at their home in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, on January 7, 2010.

A victim impact statement read out in court said Barry Fitzpatrick feared for the life of his mother and his own life “and thought the man was going to shoot us”.

Gentles, aged 26, of 2 Casement Grove, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with a shotgun.

His two accomplices in the raid, Noel O’Callaghan, aged 50, and Martin O’Callaghan, aged 23, of 104 Finian Park, Shannon, Co Clare, also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at the remote family home.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that Gentles burst into the Fitzpatrick home demanding to know where the safe was on the night of January 7, 2010.

He said that Nora Fitzpatrick and Barry were in the sitting room.

“The intruder pointed the shotgun at both of them and demanded to know the whereabouts of the safe. Mrs Fitzpatrick told him that there was no safe in the house and he must have got the wrong house,” the garda said.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that the intruder prodded the shotgun at Ms Fitzpatrick’s stomach and in the face of Barry. “He told Mrs Fitzpatrick that he would blow her head off if he wasn’t told the location of the safe.”

He said that Gentles opened the shotgun and expelled one of the cartridges to show that it was loaded.

He said the intruder searched the house and had a phonecall with an accomplice where Ms Fitzpatrick heard him say that he might be in the wrong house and then left with a laptop.

He said that Mrs Fitzpatrick showed great fortitude during the raid and that no harm was done to the Fitzpatricks.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that Gentles has 82 previous convictions.

Asked how he came to be in contact with the O’Callaghans, Det Sgt O’Hagan said that Gentles met with Martin O’Callaghan in Portlaoise prison.

He said gardaí formally notified Gentles of a threat on his life and he moved to Limerick.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that Noel O’Callaghan had identified the home while Martin O’Callaghan sourced the Audi car used in the raid that contained the shotgun.

He said that during the investigation, gardaí received a statement from a juvenile girl who was duped into driving one of the two cars used in the raid.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that the O’Callaghans are originally from Limerick and described Noel O’Callaghan as a career criminal with 33 convictions going back to 1979.

Det Sgt O’Hagan said that Martin O’Callaghan grew up in Moyross, and has 50 previous convictions.

Judge Carroll Moran adjourned sentencing the three to Ennis Circuit Court to February 6.