Courts / Dublin / Report

Dublin man jailed for having shopping bag full of handguns

Date
2016-05-04

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

Pierce Moran, 61, of East Wall, Dublin 3, was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to concurrent five-year jail terms for three charges of possession of firearms, magazines, and ammunition. The court previously heard that detectives investigating US firearm imports searched Moran's home on November 15, 2014, finding a shopping bag containing four semi-automatic pistols, a silencer, magazines, and ammunition, as well as a sawn-off shotgun. Moran had pleaded not guilty to all three charges but was convicted last Wednesday. In mitigation, his solicitor highlighted his age, lack of prior convictions, and cooperation by not contesting certain evidence. The judge noted the seriousness of the case due to the volume of weapons but acknowledged Moran's clean record and age as significant mitigating factors. The court distinguished Moran's case from that of co-accused Stephen Hendrick, who had pleaded guilty and was previously sentenced to eight years for possession of explosives and firearms committed while on bail, plus three years for ammunition. The judge stated Hendrick's sentence involved aggravating factors not present in Moran's case. Moran's sentence was backdated to his initial arrest date in November 2014.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Dublin man jailed for having shopping bag full of handguns. Procedural stage: sentence. Findings: Convicted

When:

November 15th, 2014 Incident
2016-05-04 Publication

Case subjects

Pierce Moran

Defendant

Finding: Convicted

Outcome: Convicted; He said that various aspects of Hendrick's sentence that did not apply to Moran's case. Moran was given concurrent five-year jail sentences for each of the three charges.

Stephen Hendrick

Convicted Person

Plea: Guilty

Outcome: He said that various aspects of Hendrick's sentence that did not apply to Moran's case.