Businessman jailed for imprisoning, assaulting three boys

A 40-year-old Sligo businessman who falsely imprisoned three 13-year-old boys, assaulted them and threatened to kill them has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Cathal O'Connor of Farmhill Manor in Sligo, who employs more than 100 people, will begin his sentence on 1 July to allow him to organise his business affairs.

Mr O'Connor’s co-accused, Simon Cavanagh of Brú na hAbhainn, Collooney, Co Sligo, who pleaded guilty to false imprisonment received a two-and-a-half-year sentence, suspended for six years with 240 hours of community service.

The families of the three victims told the media outside Sligo Circuit Criminal Court that they were delighted with the judge’s decision, as the ordeal had been hanging over them.

In a statement, they said that the vicious nature of this crime against their children has been hard to comprehend.

"Nothing can compensate for the pain and trauma that our children and families have been through," they said.

"Violence against kids, whom we are supposed to protect is shocking to us.

For these adults to traumatise our boys in such a manner is beyond comprehension."
The ordeal unfolded on 18 March 2024, when a group of young people, including the three victims, went to the North West Business Park, Collooney.

Two boys, who were not victims in this case, broke windows in portacabins belonging to O’Connor.

They left the scene.

When O’Connor arrived at the site with his wife and young daughter in his car, he saw broken windows and found one of the victims nearby.

He grabbed him by the shoulders, pinned him against a wall, punched him, headbutted him and threatened to kill him.

A second boy asked: "What are you doing?" When O’Connor saw him, he grabbed him too and pinned him against the wall, the court heard.

The court heard that O’Connor dragged both boys to the side of a building, kneed them to the stomach and beat them, which was caught on CCTV.

A 13-year-old girl accompanied the boys, and she can be seen from the footage observing the proceedings.

In his statement to gardaí, O’Connor said his premises was regularly subjected to antisocial behaviour and criminal damage and that he regularly visited the premises.

When the boys were being pinned and beaten, O’Connor’s co-accused, Cavanagh, arrived and helped with the detention of the boys in a warehouse.

The court heard that O’Connor told the boys that he was going to break their legs and cut off their arms.

The court heard that the boys were extremely frightened and tried to convince both men that they were not involved in the breaking of the windows.

The court heard that O’Connor pinned one of the boys down on a table and held a saw in his other hand, proceeding to tell him - "I’m going to cut off your f**king arm".

The court heard that he took phones from the two boys and told one of them to text his friend to get back to the property.

He replied that he would be there in five minutes.

Cavanagh and one of the boys travelled to Collooney and picked up another boy, who was taken to the warehouse.

They visited the house of the boy who damaged the windows, and Mr Cavanagh told that boy’s mother that her son had been involved in causing damage and that he should come to O’Connor’s warehouse.

When Cavanagh and the second boy arrived back at the warehouse, the boy who was left in the warehouse was wiping blood from his face with a high-vis vest.

The court heard when O’Connor was alone with the boy that he choked him to the point that he passed out for about 10 seconds, punched him repeatedly and hit him in the face with a pole.

The court heard that O’Connor told the boy that he had killed before.

The court heard that he told the boys that his family owned Collooney and Ballisodare and that they could get the boys banned from Collooney.

A boy, who was not a victim, arrived with his mother at O’Connor’s warehouse.

The beatings had stopped at this point.

That boy admitted to smashing a few of the windows, and O’Connor then made the boys show the videos and photos on their phones.

The court heard that the videos exonerated the three victims from criminal damage.

It appears that there was a video of two other boys causing damage.

Medical reports detailed in court heard the three victims had bodily bruising and scratches.

Two of them subsequently attended the emergency department at a local hospital.

O’Connor pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, with other charges of threats to kill and false imprisonment taken into consideration.

His co-accused, Cavanagh, who was present during the assaults, pleaded guilty to three counts of false imprisonment.

The court heard following the late disclosure of CCTV footage from outside the warehouse, that the two accused changed their pleas to guilty.

The court heard that the CCTV footage corroborated and supported the version of events as given by the three victims to gardaí.

Judge Keenan Johnson referred to the victim impact statements from the three boys and the impact the ordeal had on them.

He said one of the boys was left traumatised and terrorised by the beating, together with appalling threats against him.

He cited the statement of another victim who said he suffered very bad anxiety, panic attacks and had gone to counselling, but found that it was not helpful.

A third boy’s statement was delivered by his mother, who said he was frightened that the accused would come and get him.

Judge Johnson said there was no culpability of the three boys in respect of the damaged windows and that the violence and threats used was extremely serious.

Judge Johnson said although the guilty pleas arrived late in the day that they warranted mitigation.

He said both men were family men, with no previous convictions, at a low risk of reoffending.

Both men apologised to the victims.

Judge Johnson said Cavanagh’s role was considerably less than O’Connor's in the incident and that his culpability was considerably less.

Judge Johnson referenced O’Connor’s barrister, SC Michael Bowman, who said his client’s reaction was grossly disproportionate and that he had no entitlement to behave how he did in what was out of character.

Judge Johnson said while the court accepts that 40-year-old O’Connor is an inherently a decent man, on the occasion of the offending, his actions were so vicious, sinister and grave that the court would be failing in its duty to the public and victims by imposing a sentence that did not have a custodial element.

He cited details of the assaults, including the production of a saw, the choking of one of the victims and the repeated punching and kneeing of the victims, the prolonged duration of the assaults, the fact the three victims were boys aged 13 year of age, the fact the victims were subjected to multiple death threats, together with the efforts to intimidate the victims into silence.

Judge Johnson imposed concurrent sentences of five years, suspending the final three years for a period of six years, leaving a two-year prison sentence.

The three years were suspended on the conditions that O’Connor enters a bond of €500 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for six years, that he submits himself to supervision of the probation service for 18 months post release, that by way of compensation he pays each of the victims €35,000 each and that that he has no intentional contact either direct or indirect with the victims or their families.

Barrister Keith O’Grady sought that O’Connor's sentence be deferred to 1 July to allow him to prepare his business matters.

Judge Johnson accepted the request to defer sentencing until 1 July, when O’Connor will have to present himself at Sligo Garda Station.

In respect of Cavanagh, Judge Johnson said he was satisfied that he was landed in a situation that was not of his own making and that he was not involved in assaulting the victims.

Cavanagh was given a two-year and six-month sentence, suspended for six years.

The sentence was suspended on the terms that Cavanagh enter a bond of €500 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for six years, that he pays a sum of €3,000 to each victim within 12 months and that he have no intentional contact either direct or indirect with any of the victims or their family members.

He directed that Cavanagh’s suitability for community service is assessed and, if deemed suitable, that he serves the maximum 240 hours of community service.

Judge Johnson acknowledged that it was an extremely difficult and stressful case for everyone involved, particularly the three minor victims.

He said he hoped they can move on with their lives and live them to their full potential.