Judge adjourns sentencing for tiger kidnapper

A Limerick man who was part of a three-person gang involved in the tiger kidnapping of a post office manager’s son has had his sentence adjourned to allow a suspended sentence hanging over him from Cork Circuit Court be dealt with.

Zachary Coughlan Ryan was found guilty last October on two counts of abduction after a 13-day trial.

Coughlan Ryan, aged 34, of Brennan’s Row, Catherine Place, denied falsely imprisoning Stephen Cusack, whose mother ran Garryowen post office, and his friend, Niall Reddan, from a house in Caisleann na hAbhainn estate, Castletroy, on Apr 19, 2012.

Ryan, who addressed the court from the witness box, described himself as a republican voice calling for the overthrow of all corrupt institutions in the Republic and in the North.

He said he was refusing to recognise the authority of the court.

On being told that Coughlan Ryan had a suspended sentence imposed by Judge Rory McCabe hanging over him, the sentence for the tiger kidnapping was adjourned.

The two friends were abducted at gunpoint, bundled into the back of a pickup truck and driven to locations on the outskirts of the city on Apr 19, 2012. On Aug 29, 2012, Mr Cusack picked out one of the three kidnappers from an identity parade at Henry St Garda Station. Sgt Mary Walshe said the man picked out in the parade was Zachary Coughlan Ryan.

One person has already been sentenced for his role in the abduction.

Det Sgt Ronan McDonagh told yesterday’s sentencing hearing that the third man suspected of being involved had left the State and was still being sought.

Judge Carroll Moran adjourned sentence for the abduction.

The suspended sentence will be dealt with at Galway Circuit Court on Dec 18.