Westport man (27) who terrorised Mayo family sentenced to two and half years in prison

A Westport man who 'terrorised' a family by demanding €28,000 from a man shortly after his car was set on fire was jailed for two and a half years.

Oran Brennan (27) formerly of Cloonmonad Close, Westport but now residing in Belfast was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to a single charge of making an unwarranted demand, with menace, for €28,000 from Darragh Moon (25) on August 17, 2020.

Mr Moon had no involvement in drugs or criminality but his brother Keith had a drug problem and previously ran up a €50,000 drug debt which was paid by his father.

The court heard that on August 13, 2020, Darragh Moon received a call from a person who did not give his name but referred to himself as ‘OB’ and demanded he pay €28,000 as part of a drug debt. He recognised the person on the phone as the defendant and referred to the caller as Oran and this was not contradicted.

In the early hours of August 17, 2020, gardaí received a phone call that a Volkswagen Golf was engulfed in flames outside the family home of Mr Moon in Westport. The house also caught fire and €60,000 in damage was caused to the home as a result.

At 12.50am on August 17, Mr Moon received a phone call from a person who referred to the arson and stated 'now you know we are not messing around' and stated further damage will occur if the debt was not paid.

Oran Brennan had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge as well as a similar offence on August 13, 2020 and two charges of threatening to damage property on August 13 and 17, 2020. A jury had been sworn to hear a trial last summer but Mr Brennan changed his plea in relation to one charge of making an unwarranted demand, with menace and this was accepted by the DPP.

In sentencing Mr Brennan, Judge Eoin Garavan said the terror he imposed on his victim was such that a custodial sentence cannot be avoided.

“This man made the decision to do what he did and terrorise another family. The sinister phone call post the arson of the vehicle set it in a context and it must be viewed as a custodial matter,” Judge Garavan said.

Garda Padraig O'Connor, who investigated the case explained that Darragh Moon is a hardworking individual who has no prior dealings with An Garda Síochána.

Darragh Moon and his mother Emmanuelle both gave victim impact statements to the court in February where they both stated that the events of August 2020 continue to have a negative impact on their lives.

Darragh Moon explained that his mental health has suffered as a result of the threats to him and as a truck driver he is now constantly looking over his shoulder. He added that when he is away from home he is constantly worrying about his mother and outside of work his social life has also been affected as he is constantly on edge and not comfortable around new people.

His mother said that she suffers from anxiety as a result of the attack on her home and is also constantly on edge of noise outside her home.

Mr Brennan has 26 previous convictions and the court heard he had a traumatic upbringing spending time in foster care and he served two years detention in Oberstown Children Detention Centre when he was 15 years old.

Judge Garavan was informed that Mr Brennan moved to Belfast because he feared for his life due to his own drug debt and has now obtained a taxi licence. He has a number of children with different partners and is now in a new relationship.

Mr Bernard Madden, senior counsel for Mr Brennan said his client had a significant alcohol and drug problem around the time of the offence and was taking steps to deal with the issue. He said he attended the White Oaks aftercare programme and attended counselling sessions and enrolled in a number of courses.

Mr Madden observed that his client has been free of alcohol and drugs for over a year and has managed to turn his life around. He asked Judge Garavan to structure a sentence to allow him to address his issues and maintain the straight and narrow.

Judge Garavan said the offence was very serious and sinister where an explicit threat was made to an innocent person who has been affected by the events. He said that the defendant only cared about his own interests and did not care about his victims other than to get money from them.

He accepted that he came from a difficult background but the decision to get involved in drugs was his alone. He also noted that while he might be doing good things in his life he had no proof to show he was alcohol and drug free and the courses he entered are dated in 2024.

He accepted that Mr Brennan has avoided trouble since the incident but added the offence has to be reflected in a custodial sentence and imposed a two and a half year sentence.

“In my view it is a relatively light sentence in the context of the seriousness of the offence,” said Judge Garavan who refused to suspend any part of the sentence.