Businessman demanded sex and drugs at family’s door

A family of five suffered a traumatic ordeal on a Sunday morning when a drunken businessman home from New York banged on their door at 11.30am and demanding drugs and sex.

Tue, 28 Apr, 2015 - 01:00

Colm Lambert

John Cavanagh, aged 48, of 13 Ard Colm, Rectory Hall, Castlebridge, Co Wexford, was arrested and kept locked up overnight at Wexford Garda Station, before being brought to the district court yesterday morning.

There, Judge Gerard Haughton ruled that his actions were serious enough to warrant an immediate two-month jail sentence. He refused to consider suspending the sentence, but did fix terms for an appeal, which were availed of later in the sitting.

The court heard from Sgt Gary Rayner how gardaí received a call at 12.10pm on Sunday to say a man was banging on the door of a family home in the Ard Colm estate, saying he wanted drugs and sex. He was adamant that the house was a brothel, and refused to believe gardaí when they told him it was not.

He was so drunk that he was unable to give his name or any other details, and he remained aggressive after being brought to the garda station, where he banged his head off the wall for some time after being placed in a cell.

The father of the family told how he was home with his wife and three young children when the incident began at about 11.30am.

His wife and children screamed with fright during the ordeal, and his children remained so traumatised they would not let him leave the house for the rest of the day, and had to be reassured before going to bed that the man was locked up and would not be coming back.

Defending solicitor Eadoin Lawlor said that Cavanagh had little or no recollection of the incident.

She explained that Cavanagh has been living in the US for the past 26 years and owns a number of restaurants in New York. He was home to visit his 83-year-old father, and he was very apologetic and embarrassed for both himself and his father because of what he had done.

Ms Lawlor added that her client was due to fly back to New York tomorrow. She suggested the case could be dealt with by way of payment of compensation to the family.

Judge Haughton felt it was much more serious than that.

He did agree to fix recognisances for appeal, and these were entered into a short time later when Cavanagh’s father came to court to act as independent surety.