John Conroy convicted of hijacking and dangerous driving

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

John Conroy was convicted of 15 charges at the Circuit Court: unlawful seizure of a vehicle, reckless endangerment and 13 counts of dangerous driving. The proceedings were reported on 15 June 2018.

The court heard that on 31 May 2016, Conroy and two other men had Thomas Ackroyd drive them to a back road south of Tuam, where they assaulted him and forced him into the back seat of his car. A high-speed chase through Galway city followed, ending in a ditch in Corrundulla.

Ackroyd told the court he could remember only about two per cent of two statements he had given gardaí. He said he was still under the influence of morphine when he gave the first statement. The defence objected to the statements being admitted, arguing that it could not challenge them if Ackroyd said he did not remember. Judge Eoin Garavan admitted them.

In his statement, Ackroyd said Conroy took over driving after he was forced into the back seat. The defence said there was no evidence placing Conroy in the driver’s seat apart from Ackroyd’s statements, and suggested Ackroyd had an interest in placing someone else there.

After a four-day trial and two hours of deliberation, the jury found Conroy guilty on all counts. The court adjourned the case to July 20 for sentencing.

This case may have concluded differently. The outcome has not yet been confirmed by a public source we could find.