Widower still in fear six years after attack

An elderly widower spends every day at his local Garda station for company and sleeps under his bed in terror every night, six years on from when he was tied up, beaten and robbed by a gang at his isolated farmhouse.

Justice finally caught up with Darren Finnerty, aged 32, of Cummer, Tuam, Co Galway, who was yesterday sentenced to eight years in prison at Galway Circuit Criminal Court for his part in the robbery of the then 75-year-old widower at his home in Co Galway, on Sept 18, 2006.

Detective Sergeant John Considine said that Finnerty broke into the isolated farmhouse at 9.30pm with another man and a woman. They kicked and beat the victim before tying him up with the phone cable which they ripped off the wall.