The Athlone man who pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to kill or seriously harm the sister of murdered Limerick man Roy Collins, has been jailed for two years, with the final six months suspended.
Judge Anthony Kennedy at Mullingar Circuit Court said that while Leanne Collins was particularly vulnerable because of her brother’s tragic death, he did not believe Stephen O’Reilly (23 ), 4 Elmworth Court, Belhavel, Athlone intended to carry out the threats.
O’Reilly had admitted telling Ms Collins that Limerick’s notorious gangland figure Wayne Dundon would give him “good money” for killing her.
He had told Ms Collins on April 12 last year not to tell gardai after he chased her boyfriend, allegedly with a hammer to recover a small debt she owed him.
She reported that he later phoned her while she was at home and threatened to rape her, slit her throat, and shoot her, though O’Reilly has consistently denied the rape allegation.
While on High Court bail for that offence, he threatened her a second time on June 27 within earshot of a garda, though it was only Ms Collins who recognised his voice as he passed in a car on John Broderick Street, Athlone.
Ms Collins was not present but in her victim impact statement said she left Athlone because of intimidation.
Detective Sergeant Eamon Curley said Ms Collins believed the threats were real and said O’Reilly, who doesn’t know Dundon, is friends with a man from Limerick who does know him.
Judge Kennedy said he believed O’Reilly, who has 51 previous convictions, was sincere in his apology and remorse and said the full facts of the case were less sinister than they appeared.
He referred in depth to reports which described O’Reilly’s “harrowing” life of neglect, abandonment, violence, and brutalization.
In care from the age of 10, he had been failed by the people who were supposed to protect him, said the judge but added that O’Reilly has shown great self-motivation to improve his life.
He said O’Reilly is a man as much sinned against as sinning and is now “doing his best beyond his years to maintain family unity”.
Viewed in isolation the threats to shoot and rape Leanne Collins, and slit her throat, sounded dreadful “particularly coupled with connotations of a notorious Limerick figure in the mix,” he said.
But he was satisfied they were impulsive rather than sustained threats and that there was no intention to follow through on them.
“In one sense they were no more than vulgar abuse,” he said.
He imposed two consecutive one year sentences which he backdated to July of last year to recognize O’Reilly’s time in custody and suspended the final six months.
