"One of the principal players" in Willow Park feud jailed for five years

An Athlone man described by a Circuit Court judge as "one of the principal players" in the ongoing feud in Willow Park was jailed last week for five years. Ray O"Neill Snr, 116 Meadowbrook, Willow Park, Athlone, was jailed for five years for assault causing harm to Michael Horan on December 26, 2006, and a further five years for possession of six petrol bombs at Meadowbrook, on January 10, 2007. Both sentences are to run concurrently. O"Neill had pleaded not guilty to the offences but was convicted by a jury and sentenced by Judge Donagh McDonagh at Mullingar Circuit Court, sitting in Tullamore, last Friday. At the sentencing hearing last week, Detective Sgt Eamon Curley told the court that O"Neill had been convicted by a jury of the assault on Michael Horan, along with others and Mr Horan had suffered a broken leg after being attacked with a slash hook. He told Judge McDonagh that between December 2006 and January 2007 there had been a dispute in Willow Park and between December 24 and 26 2006 gardai had been called to the housing estate on a number of occasions. He said the O"Neills were on one side of the dispute and a number of others were on the other side, including the Wards, Powers, Stacey Ring, Charles McDonagh, Kevin Moore and others. A number of people were arrested on January 10 and Mr O"Neill"s house was searched and six petrol bombs were recovered, he told the court. He said other people had been charged along with Mr O"Neill and the other cases had been brought to a conclusion. Speaking about Mr Horan"s injuries, Det Sgt Curley read from a medical report which outlined that Mr Horan had suffered a fracture to his lower femur and was left with a scar on his leg. His injuries had not been life-threatening. He added that Mr Horan was also attending a psychiatrist, was on medication and suffered sleepless nights. Speaking about O"Neill, Det Sgt Curley said O"Neill had moved to Williow Park from the UK in 2005 and had been living there since with his family. He said he was married and had a large number of children, up to the age of 21. 'He is the head of the O"Neill family and the main instigator on the O"Neill side of the dispute, he is heavily involved in the dispute,' said Det Sgt Curley. The court heard that O"Neill had previous convictions, both in Ireland and the UK, dating back to 1980, including convictions for criminal damage, affray, theft, public order offences and driving offences. Giving details of O"Neill"s most recent conviction, Det Sgt Curley said O"Neill and two others had travelled to a house where a woman and child were living in Woodlands Grove at 6am and bricks were thrown into the house and then petrol bombs. He said the victim had called the gardai as she was afraid to leave the house. He said the other two people had been convicted of arson while O"Neill had been convicted of criminal damage and received a 12 months suspended sentence. On cross examination by Joseph Barnes, BL, Det Sgt Curley agreed that O"Neill had said when the petrol bombs were produced in the Woodlands Grove incident that he had withdrawn and told the others he would report them to gardai, but he added that he didn"t believe that this was what O"Neill had done. Michael Horan told the court his girlfriend had left him a couple of months after the attack as she became paranoid after what had happened and moved with their child to live with her mother. He said he had to travel to Mullingar by taxi every Friday after the attack for treatment and had been left with a scar on his leg. He said he couldn"t play football anymore and had a brace on his leg for about eight or nine months after the attack. On cross examination Mr Barnes pointed out that Horan had told the jury he hadn"t been drinking the night of the attack, but the medical report, which he had only received now, said that he had admitted drinking and taking drugs prior to the incident. Mr Horan said he didn"t really drink and drugs stayed in your system for days. He said he hadn"t been drinking or taking drugs on the day of the attack, other than methadone and valium, which were prescribed by his doctor. Judge McDonagh then asked to be reminded of what had happened to the other people charged in relation to this incident. Prosecution barrister John Hayden said both Ray O"Neill Jnr and Patrick O"Neill (sons of the accused) had pleaded guilty and had each received three year sentences. He said Eilizabeth O"Neill (Ray O"Neill"s wife) had pleaded guilty to a simple assault and possession of petrol bombs and had received a 12 month suspended sentence. He pointed out that Judge Kennedy had felt her role had been on the lesser end of the scale. Mr Hayden also told the judge that contrary to what Mr Barnes had said about the medical report the solicitor of all people involved had been furnished with the report. Judge McDonagh said he didn"t believe there was any issue with disclosure as the report had been in the possession of the defence team. Ray O"Neill told the court he was married with 13 children and three of his sons were serving prison sentences. The court heard he was unemployed and on disability although he was a qualified painter and decorator. The court also heard he was suicidal. 'I hear voices and when I hear them I harm myself and when I harm myself the pain goes away,' he told Judge McDonagh. He said he had suffered this condition since 1986 and had been under the care of a number of psychiatrists. He added that he had also spent three months in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. Asked by Mr Barnes if he had anything to say to Mr Horan, O"Neill said: 'I regret that my sons caused these injuries to Michael Horan, none of these injuries were caused by my hand. I regret and feel sorry for Mr Horan for the suffering he had to go through.' Mr Barnes said his client was 46 years old, had a number of previous convictions and had spent a total of 16 months in prison, seven of which had been on remand. He asked Judge McDonagh to take account of the life O"Neill had ahead of him and the number of medical conditions he suffered, including angina, diabetes and depression. He said O"Neill got no credit for a guilty plea as the rest of his family had, but said his sons had taken responsibility for the petrol bombs and said there was no evidence to suggest that his involvement had been any different to that of his wife Elizabeth O"Neill, who Judge Kennedy had accepted was on the periphery of the incident. Passing sentence Judge McDonagh said: 'It is patently obvious that there is a long-running battle in Willow Park and it is patently obvious that Ray O"Neill Snr is one of the principal players in that feud.' He said all of the family involved in this trial were also involved in the feud. He said he was satisfied with the evidence of Mr Horan and Ms Ring and said he was particularly impressed with the veracity of Ms Ring. 'I am satisfied Ray O"Neill was involved up to his neck in the attack on Mr Horan, I am perfectly satisfied his sons were carrying serious weapons and perfectly satisfied that he acquiesced in the use of a slash hook and accept the evidence that he said "Finish him off",' said Judge McDonagh. He said he also accepted that O"Neill had a bottle and beat Mr Horan with it. He said it had been a concerted family attack. 'I don"t accept that Mr Horan was among those who attacked his house earlier that night. I think it was an allegation unfounded in fact, unsupported by evidence and an effort to blacken Mr Horan"s character any more than he blackened it himself in the past,' the judge said. He said he was not a man for body language, but he had watched O"Neill giving evidence and he thought it would have indicated that he wasn"t being truthful. 'I am quite satisfied he lied, lied and lied again. I am perfectly satisfied the jury got their interpretation of the evidence right 100% and returned the correct verdict,' said Judge McDonagh. 'I am not satisfied he wasn"t involved, I am satisfied he was.' He said he found it hard to believe that O"Neill had been unaware of the presence of petrol bombs in his house as all he had to do was walk out the side door of his house and see the glass bottles and a petrol can lined up on a shelf in the yard. 'He was culpable throughout in all aspects of this case,' he said. Judge McDonagh said O"Neill"s sons had been given credit for their youth and guilty pleas when they were each jailed for three years, but said no such credit extended to Ray O"Neill Snr. He jailed him for five years for the assault causing harm on Michael Horan. In relation to the possession of petrol bombs, Judge McDonagh said O"Neill had previously involved in a case involving petrol bombs and said while he was only charged with criminal damage in relation to the Woodlands Grove case a year earlier he found it incredible that he could drive around Athlone in a car with petrol bombs in it without noticing the smell of petrol. He said while he heard what had been advanced in relation to O"Neill"s medical condition, he had been furnished with no evidence of it. He said the apology had been self-serving and hollow and said while he was tempted to impose a higher sentence for the possession of petrol bombs, he must look at the balance of the case and imposed a five-year sentence, to run concurrently with other sentence. Leave to appeal was refused.