Two men have been jailed in connection with the “execution” of Aidan ‘The Beast’ O’Driscoll, who was killed on a Cork street as part of a dispute between the two IRA groups.
The Special Criminal Court heard O’Driscoll was leaving work when he was confronted by a gunman who fired a shot at him. He tried to run from the assailant, whose gun appeared to jam, but a second gunman followed and shot him.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that the three-judge court was satisfied that the two mens’ acts “constituted substantial assistance to a very serious crime”.
While the prosecution did not go as far as to allege that any of the defendants knew they were assisting a murder, they must have known they were assisting “high level and criminal activity”, the judge said.
O’Driscoll, a senior figure in the Real IRA in Munster, died after being shot four times on the Old Commons Road, Blackpool, Cork on December 7th, 2016.
Colin Casey (32) was today sentenced to 4½ years in prison while his co-accused Daniel Hegarty (24) was jailed for four years.
Casey and Hegarty, whose addresses were not before the court, both pleaded guilty to four counts of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of O’Driscoll’s killers.
Collected
Casey collected the alleged gunmen from the Redemption Road area of Blackpool after they arrived in a silver Nissan Almera. He drove them from that location in a white Vauxhall Astra van which he subsequently burned out, along with the Nissan Almera.
Hegarty collected a bag used by the alleged killers in the vicinity of Farranferris, which he buried at an isolated location. He also set fire to a Honda CBR motorbike used to transport the bag, and was involved in the burning of a red Opel Astra car.
A probation report was sought by the court in relation to a third man, Eoin Morrissey, and his sentence will be finalised in October. Morrissey (19), with an unknown address, had also pleaded guilty to two counts of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of O’Driscoll’s killers.
Morrissey provided Hegarty, his first cousin, with a firelighter which was used to burn the red Opel Astra car. He also admitted following Hegarty to Inchamay where the red Opel Astra car was burnt out, so as to provide transport for Hegarty after the burning.
Sentencing the defendants, Mr Justice Hunt, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Ann Ryan, said a victim impact statement had been handed in and the court found that “very great harm” had been done as a result of this incident. The maximum sentence for each defendant was up to 10 years in prison.
Sentencing Casey, Mr Justice Hunt said that his assistance consisted of sourcing cars used in the murder as well as being a “support driver”.
The judge said the offence fell at the lower end of the top range and the headline sentence was seven years in prison. In mitigation, he noted that Casey had made admissions to gardaí in relation to his own role in the event and his guilty plea carried significant value. As a result of the mitigating factors, a discount of two years was applied to the headline sentence.
Concealed
Referring to Hegarty, the judge said the mechanic had transported and concealed a bag connected to those who were directly involved in the murder. It fell in the upper end of the medium range in terms of offending and attracted a headline sentence of six years, he said.
Two mitigating factors in his sentence was that his mother had died when he was young and he had received a garda information message (GIM) as a result of his involvement in the killing of O’Driscoll. A discount of two years was applied. Their sentences were backdated to March 11th last.
While Casey’s and Hegarty’s assistance had been “substantial and proximate”, Mr Justice Hunt said Morrissey’s situation was “significantly different” as he had become involved after the event due to a family relationship with Hegarty.
Morrissey’s assistance had been “less proximate” than his two co-accused, he said, adding that the headline sentence in his case was two years.
The judge said mitigatings factor in sentencing Morrissey were that he was only 17 at the time and had no previous convictions. His youth was a significant factor as he was susceptible to the influence of older people, the court heard.
The judge said a suspended sentence must be considered in Morrissey’s case. The court ordered a probation report for Morrissey and adjourned the matter until October 21th.