Courts / Armagh / Report

Dessie O'Hare: The Border Fox

Date
2019-04-11

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Armagh

County
Armagh

Summary

In 2019, a journalist recalled the 1988 trial of Dessie O'Hare, who had been sentenced to 40 years for the kidnapping and torture of dentist John O'Grady. The article describes a 2019 sentencing hearing where O'Hare, still in court, was given a ten‑year term with three years suspended for false imprisonment and a concurrent three‑year assault sentence. The judge noted that O'Hare's threat to society had not fully abated and cited his past violent offences as aggravating factors. O'Hare had pleaded guilty to a violent assault. The piece also recounts his 1988 speech from the dock after his 40‑year sentence, where he denounced Irish authorities, called for violence, and threatened war against British and Irish forces. The article ends with his being escorted to prison after the speech.