Limerick man sentenced to 9 years for drive-by shooting

A man who drove into a busy housing estate on a summer’s afternoon, opening fire on a number of people as children played nearby, acted in a cold and calculated way, a judge said yesterday when sentencing him to nine years in jail.

Thomas McCarthy, a 34-year-old father of two with an address at Sli na Milaoise, Rathkeale, Co Limerick, was found guilty by a jury at Limerick Circuit Court in June of carrying out the gun attack in Castleview Estate, Newcastle West, in which brother and sister Gerard and Colette Hennessy were wounded.

Mr Hennessy was so badly injured he had to be airlifted to Cork University Hospital with gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

Ms Hennessy was rushed to University Hospital Limerick, where she was treated for hand wounds. She was seven weeks pregnant at the time.

Mr Hennessy had gone to his mother’s house on the afternoon of August 13, 2014, to meet his two children, who had arrived home from England. They had earlier been collected at Cork Airport by Ms Hennessy.

Det Garda Jason Mitchell gave evidence at the trial that the children, their grandmother, and other family members were in the front garden of their house when a gunman got out of a car, walked towards the Hennessy home, and fired a number of shots.

Doctors said pellets lodged in Mr Hennessy’s chest would remain there for the rest of his life, as it was was too risky to remove them.

McCarthy’s car was seen entering the estate on the day prior to the shooting on several occasions and he was also seen after the attack in the car used in the shooting.

Earlier on the day of the shooting, McCarthy’s car was seen by gardaí on routine patrol travelling near the scene of the shooting.

CCTV showed him meeting a woman in Charleville, Co Cork, after the shooting and they booked into a hotel in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, before getting a ferry to Wales. He was arrested after he subsequently returned to Ireland.

At the time of the shooting, there was a three-year exclusion order in force which barred McCarthy from entering Castleview Estate.

Judge Tom O’Donnell said the shooting was carried out by McCarthy in a cold, calculated, and planned manner.

He said: “There was reckless disregard for the adults and children there at the time. There was also a complete lack of remorse by the accused who showed disdain for the injured parties at all times. This must be viewed as a matter of extreme seriousness which could have had fatal consequences. He discharged a firearm when a number of people, including young children, were in the location.”

He jailed McCarthy for 12 years, with the final three years suspended.