A man who is serving a life sentence the murder of a young mother has been jailed for a further 10 years for choking and falsely imprisoning a five-year old girl.
Gerard McGrath (24), who was sentenced to life last month for the murder of Sylvia Roche Kelly (34) in a Limerick hotel, appeared before Clonmel Circuit Court yesterday.
The court heard how McGrath entered the bedroom of the five-year old daughter of John and Mary Kelly and squeezed her throat with his hands before he tried to carry her out of the house.
Det Sgt John Long, of Tipperary Garda Station, told Judge Thomas Teehan that McGrath broke into the Kelly’s house at Kilnamanagh Manor, Dundrum, Co Tipperary, at 3.30am on October 9th, 2007.
He said McGrath looked into the parents’ bedroom and then went into their daughter’s room.
Det Long said the girl “possibly woke up and Mr McGrath put his hands around her throat and squeezed, there-by stopping her from crying out”.
Mary Kelly, the child’s mother, woke and saw McGrath with her daughter and began shouting.
McGrath tried to leave the house but the front door was locked. He threw the girl onto the couch and was overpowered by the girl’s father and held until gardaí arrived.
McGrath, of Ballywalter, Cashel, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing harm, false imprisonment and four counts of burglary relating to the incident.
The incident occurred just two months before McGrath murdered Ms Roche Kelly at The Clarion Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick on December 8th, 2007.
Her naked body was found lying face down in the bath by hotel staff the next afternoon. She had been beaten and choked to death.
The court yesterday heard a victim impact statement for the five-year old girl which said her “feeling of security in her own home and bedroom had been robbed from her”.
The court heard she regularly asked her parents, “What was this mad man going to do with me“?
Her father told the court “this is the worst crime a parent can imagine”.
“To come so close to losing our daughter but succeeding in protecting her is both deeply frightening and joyful,” Mr Kelly said.
He said he was “very angry with McGrath and with where Irish society had come to”.
Frank Quirke for McGrath said his client came from a respectable family had that he had suffered from alcohol addiction and had lost a child with a partner.
Judge Teehan said people have a right to expect and enjoy safety and security in their own home and that on this night the Kelly family were not able to do so.
Passing sentence Judge Teehan said he took into account Mr McGrath’s plea of guilty and admissions to gardaí.
He sentenced McGrath to 10-years for false imprisonment, eight years for the charges of burglary and four-years for assault causing harm with all sentences to run concurrent and to run concurrently with McGrath’s earlier sentence from today’s date.
Speaking outside the court John and Mary Kelly said they were “very glad to put this affair behind us and are looking forward to moving on with our lives”.