Judge announces sentences for Offaly burglars who attacked pensioner with shovel

TWO men responsible for an attack where a pensioner said he begged for his life have been sentenced at Tullamore Circuit Court to a total of 18 years in prison.

Dylan Coughlan, aged 22, Armstrong Grove, Clara, had been found guilty after a trial of assaulting John Sheerin, causing him harm, at the 70-year-old man's home at Kinclare, Clara on September 1, 2019.

A jury had also found him guilty of assaulting another man on the same date, Derek Tuite, at his residence, 5 Railway View, Clara.

Wayne Dolan, 35, Erry Mill Cottage, Frederick Street, Clara, had pleaded guilty to the same offences.

Both men were also guilty of aggravated burglary.

At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Judge Keenan Johnson described Mr Sheerin as an elderly vulnerable man who was now afraid to go out at night and feared being on his own at home.

Judge Johnson said the two guilty men had armed themselves with a shovel and a bat and carried out both assaults at night.

After the burglary of Mr Sheerin's home and the assault on him the two men went to Mr Tuite's house, gained entry through a window and assaulted him in his bed.

They had been drinking with Mr Tuite the previous evening at the house in Railway View and left, asking the victim to leave the door unlocked for them on their return.

Judge Johnson said the offences were “despicable” and noted that Mr Coughlan and Mr Dolan both had serious issues with drug and alcohol abuse.

He sentenced Mr Coughlan to 10 years in prison with the final two years suspended.

Mr Dolan was sentenced to eight years with the final two years suspended.

Concurrent sentences of three years each were also imposed for assaulting Mr Tuite.

Both men were already in custody and Mr Coughlan's sentence was back dated to September 9, 2020 while Mr Dolan has already spent one year and 41 weeks in prison.

Separately, Mr Dolan is still awaiting sentence for another aggravated burglary at Chapel Hill in Clara and Kevin White, BL, prosecuting (instructed by Sandra Mahon, Offaly state solicitor) said that sentence will have to be consecutive.

Judge Johnson said Mr Coughlan was on bail at the time of the offences on September 1, 2019 and had a total of 51 previous convictions.

The court was also told that Mr Dolan had absconded from the Cuan Mhuire addiction treatment centre after spending a period there earlier this year.

The trial of Mr Coughlan in May heard how he and Mr Dolan entered the home of Mr Sheerin at about 5am through a rear window, beat him with shovels and threatened him with a knife.

Mr Sheerin said €700 was then taken from his wallet when the men forced him to go to his kitchen with a knife at his back.

Mr Sheerin said he was awoken at about 5am by two men who came into his bedroom and demanded money.

He said they made him lie on his stomach and stood on each side of the bed beating him with shovels.

Mr Sheerin, who lived alone, detailed that he was hit about 10 times and one fellow put a knife to his throat and said he wanted money.

The elderly man went down to the kitchen and was told they would stick the knife in him if he was not given money.

His wallet with the money was taken, and it also contained his travel pass and medical card.

Mr Sheerin said he could hear the men's voices and knew what they were saying but could not see their faces because they were masked with either balaclavas or women's tights.

The jury heard Mr Sheerin say a shovel was missing from his shed and that he had been woken by his Jack Russell pet who was barking after one of the men put the dog up on a window sill.

Mr Sheerin also told the trial that his dog had been given to him by a man he named as Wayne Dolan who had come to his house about a fortnight before.

He said Mr Dolan knew he had been looking for a dog but he did not know who told him that. The dog was company for him and he previously had a collie who lived to the age of 16.

The second victim, Derek Tuite, said in evidence he had been drinking in his house at Railway View with Mr Coughlan and Mr Dolan, and he asked them to leave because he wanted to go to bed.

When eventually they left he said they asked him to leave the door unlocked because they'd be back in a while.

Mr Tuite said he ignored them, locked the door and went to bed and some hours later on September 1 he woke up and the two men had surrounded him and were shouting at him, asking why he locked the door.

He said Wayne Dolan jumped on him, put a knife to his neck and punched him, and Dylan Coughlan, who had a pole or a bar in his hand, kicked him on the head. He recalled saying to them: “Please stop, please stop, I done nothing wrong.”

He said he was beaten for a while and there was blood all over his bed sheets. He also remembered them telling him they had beaten someone up and taken money from him.