Strokestown eviction case: three men jailed for attack

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

Patrick Sweeney, Martin O'Toole and Paul Beirne were sentenced at Dublin Circuit Court on 28 July 2023 to 15 years in prison each for convictions arising from an attack on security guards at Falsk, near Strokestown. They had denied the charges.

The convictions covered false imprisonment and assault causing harm to four security personnel, arson to three vehicles, aggravated burglary, criminal damage to the house's front door, violent disorder, and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. They were found not guilty of arson to a Vauxhall car and robbery of a security guard's wristwatch.

Judge Martina Baxter imposed concurrent sentences, backdated to the men's custody, with no part suspended. The sentence breakdown included 15 years for one false-imprisonment count, 14 years for three others, 13 years for aggravated burglary, 10 years for violent disorder and arson, eight years for criminal damage, and five years for animal cruelty.

A 2024 report said the Court of Criminal Appeal was due to consider P J Sweeney's appeal against his convictions and sentence. It identified grounds including the admission of body-camera evidence, evidence from Detective Garda Enda Jennings, financial evidence and the sentence's severity.