Teen fired shot at house to get €100 loan repaid

A teenager who fired a gun through the window of a house because one of its occupants was late repaying him a €100 loan has been given a six year sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The court heard that Daniel Gaynor, aged 19, of Berryfield Drive, Finglas, had needed the loan money back so he could give his girlfriend a Valentine’s Day present.

Graynor, who said he wanted to frighten the borrower into repayment of the loan, fired the shot through the window of the other boy’s house in the early hours of the morning. The boy’s parents were present in the house with their grandchildren at the time of the shooting.

Gaynor, who was aged 18 at the time, pleaded guilty to causing reckless endangerment creating substantial risk of death or serious harm to the occupants of a house on Dunsink Drive, Finglas on February 14, 2004.

He also pleaded to possession of a sawn-off shotgun on February 21, 2004 which gardaí found at his address along with a balaclava, gloves and spent shotgun cartridges.

Though he suspended the last two years of Gaynor’s sentence, Judge Michael White said it was one of the most substantial sentences he has had to impose on a man of Gaynor’s age.

Judge White said gun crime is becoming prevalent in Irish society and the courts had to mark the seriousness of such offences. He suspended the last two years of Gaynor’s sentence on account of his early plea of guilty and other personal circumstances.

His counsel, Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, told Judge White that Gaynor was extremely remorseful about his actions and had cried throughout the garda interview which followed his arrest.

"This is a farce," the mother of the teenager who owed Gaynor the €100 told the court. In her late sixties, she was present in the house at the time of the incident and has been deeply traumatised by the incident. "He may have cried during the interview. I will cry for the rest of my life," she said.

Detective Garda Des McTiernan told prosecuting counsel, Mr Des Zaidan BL, that the event had caused her so much trauma she had moved house. She and her husband, along with her family, had been living at the address for over 40 years.

Det. Garda McTiernan said Graynor admitted to calling the teenager who owed him money the day before and threatening to kill him if he did not repay the loan. He said he lent the money to the other boy around Christmas the previous year for his aunt’s birthday