Man pleads guilty to demanding €28,000 to pay off drug debt

A WESTPORT man received a threatening phone call demanding €28,000 to pay off his brother's drug debt shortly after his car was set on fire outside the family home.

Oran Brennan (26) with an address at Ballaghaderreen Road, Kilkelly and formerly of Cloonmonad Close, Westport appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of making an unwarranted demand, with menace, for €28,000 from Darragh Moon (25) on August 17, 2020.

Garda Padraig O'Connor told the court that on August 17, 2020, gardaí received a phone call that a Volkswagen Golf was engulfed in flames outside the family home of Mr Moon. The house also caught fire and €60,000 in damage was caused to the home as a result.

The court heard that Mr Moon's brother Keith has a drug problem and previously ran up a €50,000 drug debt which was paid by his father.

Garda O'Connor explained 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. Mr Moon recognised the person on the phone as the defendant and referred to the caller as Oran and this was not contradicted.

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 June 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.

Garda O'Connor also confirmed that Darragh Moon is a hardworking individual who has no dealings with An Garda Síochána.

Victim Impact Statements

DARRAGH Moon and his mother Emmanuelle both gave victim impact statements to the court 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.

“If I saw anyone walking nearby I would get paranoid and I would second think about getting out of the lorry. Likewise I am definitely more wary of other vehicles on the road especially a car that might be behind me refusing to overtake as I work on my own 100 percent of the time I am very aware of how vulnerable I am. If I get a phone call from any unknown phone number which I do on a regular basis from my work I still get the same chill which I caught back in August 2020 when I got those threats from Oran Brennan,” he said.

Mr Moon 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.

The court heard that Mr Moon had only purchased the car a few weeks prior to it being set on fire and he is now wary of buying anything new as it might make him a target.

“While it is only a car I have worked hard since leaving school and this was the first real reward I have treated myself to. Since then I am very reluctant to show any signs of doing well for myself as I am afraid of drawing any attention to myself and having a target placed on my back.

“While these events have had a negative impact on my life I am determined not to let them define my future. I just want to get on with my life,” he concluded.

Anxiety

IN her victim impact statement, Ms Moon 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.

“I am definitely more paranoid especially when it gets dark and I am more aware of any noises, especially of any cars that pull up outside the house. I find myself looking out the window more often and if I see if a driver has pulled in even just to answer the phone I get a huge sense of relief.

We have a sensor light outside and any time this comes on I start to panic. Another example is I now refuse to answer any phone calls from an unknown number. I would have no problem doing this in the past but not since all this happened,” she said.

Ms Moon added that since the incident she has not spent a single evening away from home as she would be worried something would happen and is constantly worried for her son Darragh as the threats were made against him.

She added that there has also been a financial cost to the attack and apart from the cost of the damage to their home, she has seen her insurance premium go up from €400 to €2,000 per year.

Mr Colm Smyth, senior counsel for Mr Brennan, said his client apologises to his victims and asked for an adjournment to allow his client to deal with matters surrounding the circumstances of the case and complete courses which will assist him. Mr Smyth said he hopes a probation report will be available to assist the court before sentencing his client.

Judge Eoin Garavan agreed to the request and adjourned sentencing until July 5 to allow for the preparation of the probation report but warned Mr Brennan to put 110 percent into everything he does between now and sentencing.