Court archive
Court reports mentioning Freemount, Cork
2020-12-21 · Cork
Two burglars, Niall Fitzpatrick (53) and Jerry O'Leary (62), were convicted of a carefully planned burglary at Kilberehert, Freemount, Charleville on 19 October 2023. They targeted the home of a couple in their late 80s who were out attending Mass. The crime involved hiring cars, changing drivers, altering clothes, hiding in woods and staked‑out surveillance over two days. Both received seven‑year sentences at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Their appeals to the Court of Appeal were dismissed. The court noted the planning, the number of offenders, the rural target and the vulnerability of the occupants as aggravating factors. It found no error in principle and stated that the judge was not obliged to suspend any portion of the sentences. The appeals were therefore rejected, leaving the seven‑year terms in place. Niall Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty. Jerry O'Leary pleaded guilty.
2020-12-17 · Cork
Two Cork men, Niall Fitzpatrick (53) and Jerry O'Leary (62), appealed their seven‑year sentences for a burglary at a home in Charleville on 19 October 2023. The crime, described as carefully planned, targeted an elderly couple who were away at Mass. The men were caught by armed Gardaí after an intelligence‑led investigation. Fitzpatrick had 70 prior convictions, including escape and post office robbery; O'Leary had 48, eight of them burglary. Their counsel argued that mitigating factors such as age, health issues, and the fact that Fitzpatrick had never seen his child due to the pandemic had been insufficiently considered, and that a portion of the sentences should have been suspended to encourage rehabilitation. The Court of Appeal, presiding over the appeal, will decide on Monday. The case highlights the seriousness of the planning and the lack of aggravating factors such as violence or weapons. The appeal is pending. Niall Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty. Jerry O'Leary pleaded guilty.
2018-10-02 · Kerry
James Cronin, aged 35, was jailed for two years by the Court of Appeal after breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence by drinking alcohol. Cronin had previously been sentenced to seven years in 2007 for attempting to rape a girl he met at a Killarney disco on Christmas Eve 2004, and was already serving an eight‑year sentence for kidnapping and raping another woman he met at a Killarney disco on 31 October 2004. The Court of Criminal Appeal had varied his Christmas Eve sentence to ten years, suspending the final five years on the condition that he comply with probation services and abstain from alcohol. The probation service reported that Cronin had consumed alcohol to an excessive degree on several occasions, undermining his medication and the terms of his release. The Court of Appeal, hearing the matter, activated two of the five suspended years, requiring Cronin to serve two years in jail.