Woman was terrorised by intruders at rural cottage

Fear gripped an idyllic rural thatched cottage in Limerick when intruders terrorised the middle-aged woman living there, a court heard.

Catherine O’Meara Carew was tied hand and foot as three men ransacked every room at Sandy Lane, near Caherconlish.

Ms O’Meara Carew, who is in her 50s, lay helpless as the raiders refused to believe there was no large sum of money in her house. They made off with €241 in cash and four rings.

Dublin criminal John Joyce, aged 49, of Morgan Place, Navan Rd, Castleknock, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to falsely imprisoning Ms O’Meara Carew and to carrying out a burglary.

Over 45 minutes Joyce and two accomplices terrorised Ms O’Meara Carew. During her ordeal she was pinned down on a bed.

Judge Carroll Moran jailed Joyce for three years. The sentence is to be consecutive to a sentence Joyce is serving for another crime.