Victim was punched, threatened and locked in car boot

A NIGHT of drinking and taking cocaine by three men ended up with two of them turning on the third party, threatening him and assaulting him before locking him into the boot of a car.

Two men appeared before Carlow Circuit Court recently to face charges of assaulting the third man, causing him harm and falsely imprisoning him in Rathellen, Leighlinbridge on 14 or 15 August 2022.

The injured party told Judge Eugene Kelly that Philip Moore (41) threatened to pour boiling water over him, threatened to push his head into a sink full of bleach and also threatened to spray bleach into his eyes before punching him in the gut and hauling him into the boot of a car. The victim further said that Shane Coady (25) was also in the house at the time and that he had roared and shouted at him before hitting him twice in the face, causing damage to his teeth.

Mr Moore, in whose house the incident took place, was found guilty by a jury of both offences while he was cleared of charges of possessing a knife and of threatening to harm the injured party.

The second defendant, Shane Coady of Bagenal Court, Bagenalstown, had pleaded guilty in a previous court hearing to the assault charge, while the false imprisonment charge wasn’t prosecuted and was instead taken into consideration.

The two men were sentenced at Carlow Circuit Court, with Detective Garda Tommy Cleere, led by prosecutor Niall Storan, going through statements that all three men had made, including a counter-allegation made by Mr Moore against the injured party. Judge O’Kelly was told that the gardaí investigated this counter-allegation but that the DPP didn’t pursue it.

The series of incidents began on 14 August, when the three men were partying in Mr Moore’s house, where they stayed up most of the night drinking, taking cocaine and listening to music.

In a statement made to the gardaí, the victim said that he returned to Mr Moore’s house the following evening after buying a bottle of Jack Daniels and cigarettes for him earlier, after Mr Moore gave him money for them. He said that they were drinking and taking cocaine again that evening and that, at about 10pm, Mr Moore “began to freak out” at him, shouting at him to tell him the truth. He said that Mr Moore made him sit on a chair in the middle of the kitchen floor and that he and Mr Coady began circling the chair, shouting that he had spiked their drinks the night before.

The court heard that the victim saw Mr Moore boiling the kettle and threatening to pour boiling water over him while also putting bleach into the sink and threatening to put his head into it. At another stage, Mr Moore grabbed a bottle of bleach and threatened to spray it into the man’s eyes to blind him. The injured party said that Mr Coady hit him twice in the face and that Mr Moore punched him in the gut before he brought him outside and put him into the boot of his mother’s car, telling him that they were going to bring him up to Rossmore.

In direct evidence during Mr Moore’s trial, the injured party said he was afraid for his life and that he was crying and shouting out for help when he was locked up in the boot. He said he was afraid because Mr Moore had bipolar disorder and he didn’t know what he was going to do with him next.

During Mr Moore’s trial, Judge O’Kelly heard that gardaí forensically examined fibres from the boot of the car and the victim’s clothing and found that they matched.

Mr Moore, in his statement, told the gardaí that he didn’t know anything about “a kidnapping”, that “he didn’t put his hands” on the man and blamed Mr Coady for hitting the injured party. He said that it was Mr Coady who was “hyped” and “going crazy” and that he was the one who put the victim in the car boot.

Mr Coady told the gardaí that he had woken up that morning in the bathroom after the previous night of partying and that he initially didn’t know where he was. He said that he thought his drink had been spiked the night before by the third man and that when the third man returned to the house for a second evening of partying, he confronted him about spiking his drink. Mr Coady admitted to gardaí that he hit the injured party twice in the face and that Mr Moore threatened the man with bleach and boiling water, and that he would “take him up to the mountains”. He said that he shouted at Mr Moore to stop and that he thought that locking the man into the boot was “going too far”.

The court heard that both men claimed they let the injured party out of the boot, while the injured party said he couldn’t say because it was raining heavily at that stage and he was in a distressed state.

In his victim impact statement, the man said that his quality of life had changed after the incident and that he no longer felt safe, even when he was in his own home. He said that Mr Moore had “tarnished his name” and “had caused extreme stress” to him and his family. He added that he felt like he was on trial and not the other way around, and that Mr Moore had shown no remorse for what he’d done.

Tara Geoghegan BL for Mr Coady told Judge O’Kelly that her client was remorseful for what he had done and that he himself was “shocked at what he’d done under the influence of alcohol”. She continued that he was in employment and that he had saved €1,000 by way of compensation for the victim after damaging his teeth.

Judge O’Kelly said that this wasn’t sufficient, given that he was earning a wage, and adjourned sentencing Mr Coady until November for him to gather more funds.

Mr Moore was sent straight into custody with sentencing adjourned for the preparation of various medical reports. He was remanded in custody until the next sitting of Carlow Circuit Court in July.