Five men jailed for assault involving ‘RAT’ branding

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Five men have been sentenced by the Special Criminal Court for the assault on Barry Moore, in which he was beaten, waterboarded and branded with the word “RAT”. Jason Hennessy Jr and Dean Fitzsimons each received eight and a half years in prison, Kenneth Fitzsimons was jailed for eight years, Brandon Hennessy received six years, and Devon Hennessy was sentenced to three years.

The four men who had stood trial pleaded guilty to assault causing harm after Moore refused to give evidence. Devon Hennessy had earlier pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Moore and assisting a criminal organisation to inflict serious harm. The court said Devon was the only one of the five who tried to intervene for Moore and the only one who entered an early guilty plea.

Brandon Hennessy’s six-year term is consecutive to a sentence he is already serving, which is due to end in February 2028. The other four sentences were backdated to February 17, 2025, when they went into custody on the charge.