Wicklow man handed four-year sentence
A Wicklow resident, who twice shot at an empty parked car outside a house because he had "a grudge" against the homeowner for killing his friend, has been jailed for four years.
Dean Byrne (aged 22), who was jailed for seven and half years at the Special Criminal Court earlier this month for gun possession, told gardaí that he had only meant to frighten Timothy Kavanagh because "he had been walking around after the murder" of Yohan Verhoeven.
Verhoeven was known to gardaí. His body was found in the Wicklow mountains months after he had been reported missing in July 2006.
Kavanagh, who had been at home with his partner and four children when the shots were fired, was jailed for five years in April 2008 at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court after he was convicted by a jury of Verhoeven’s manslaughter.
Byrne with an address at Marlton Park, Wicklow, was sentenced on May 7, last at the Special Criminal Court for unlawful possession of a firearm, an offence which occurred after the shooting at Kavanagh’s house.
Byrne pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of a 12 gauge Marocchi over-and-under double-barrel shotgun and five rounds of ammunition at Rathsallagh Park, Shankhill, on February 14, 2007.
He had 14 additional convictions for road traffic offences which had all been dealt with in the District Court.
Garda Daragh Phelan agreed with Mr Patrick Gageby SC (with Mr David Wheelahan BL), defending, that the offence which had been dealt with in the Special Criminal Court clearly involved "shadowy figures in the background for whom Byrne had been doing a favour".
He further agreed that Kavanagh had not been charged with Verhoeven’s murder in February 2007 but that he was later convicted of causing the man’s death "by some playful but mistaken game".
Mr Gageby told Judge Martin Nolan that the Special Criminal Court had taken into account this case and had imposed the minimum mandatory sentence of five years that is required if an accused has committed a second firearms offence.
Judge Nolan described it as "a very serious offence" in which Byrne "used a firearm to frighten and intimidate a man he had a grudge against for killing his friend".
He said he had decided not to order that the four year jail term be served consecutively to the one he is currently serving because he was satisfied that the Special Criminal Court had taken this case into account when sentencing Byrne.
Gda Phelan told Mr Garrett Baker BL, prosecuting, that Kavanagh heard two shotgun blasts coming from the front of his house at 8.40pm. He later discovered that the windows of his partner’s car had been smashed causing €3,000 worth of damage.
A nearby garda who was on mountain bike patrol also heard the shots and later spotted Byrne jumping into a car being driven by his girlfriend, Natasha Lawlor.
Lawlor (aged 21) of St Patrick’s Terrace, Monkstown Farm, Dun Laoghaire, later received a two-year suspended sentence from Judge Patrick McCartan after she pleaded guilty to the same charge as Byrne.
Gda Phelan said that Byrne made full admissions during his four garda interviews and described him as being "cooperative from the outset".
He said the weapon had been dropped off to him some previous Monday and he had been planning the shooting for a week. He denied getting money to do it and claimed that no one else knew he was intending to do it.
Byrne told gardaí that he had been given five cartridges with the shotgun and later pointed out to them where he had hidden the weapon.
He denied in garda interview that he had been trying to seek revenge for his friend’s murder and insisted that he had been just trying to frighten Kavanagh.
He said that he had specifically requested a shotgun "to be safe" in case the weapon had been used in other crimes.
"I deeply regret what I have done and I feel sorry for the kids in the house. I didn’t know there were kids in the house," Byrne told gardaí.
Gda Phelan said that Verhoeven was known to gardaí and Byrne had been acquainted with him for 10 years.
Mr Gageby asked Judge Nolan to take into account his client’s early admissions, his cooperation with gardaí including the retrieval of the shotgun and the fact that the shots were fired at an empty car rather than at the house.
