‘Unjust’ to jail Louth man who threatened woman and her children
The Drogheda IndependentA judge has said it would be unjust to jail a 30-year-old man who threatened to “burn out” a woman and “cut her children’s throats”.
During a sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court, Judge Dara Hayes remarked that a report on Deaglan Conlon was “as positive a probation report as one could get”.
He added that the defendant appeared to have “fully rehabilitated”.
Mr Conlon, with an address at the time at Glenwood, Dublin Road, Dundalk, pleaded guilty to a charge of making a threat to a female to kill or cause her serious harm.
He received an 18-month sentence, suspended in its entirety for 18 months.
The court heard that what occurred was his reaction to his own mother receiving threats from the victim’s family.
Det Gda Daniel O’Connor said that at 5.50pm on September 5, 2019, in the forecourt of Circle K, Dublin Road, Dundalk, the defendant got out of a car driven by a female and which had blocked in the victim’s car as she was at petrol pumps.
Mr Conlon, who has 125 previous convictions, including for arson, approached and threatened “to burn her out of it” and “cut her children’s throats”. It was verbal only.
The woman was in fear her home would be damaged, while another female family member present was terrified, Det Gda O’Connor continued.
The defendant was arrested the next day. He told investigators that his mother had received threats from the other woman’s family and that this was his reaction to it.
At the time he was in the throes of an addiction to alcohol and drugs. He had not come to Garda attention since 2021.
Det Gda O’Connor told barrister Jim McCullough, instructed by solicitor Fergal Boyle, that peace had since been restored between the parties. There had been no follow-up.
Mr McCullough said that Deaglan Conlon had undergone a “marked transformation” from someone who was a “social menace”.
He was quite accomplished in his educational studies and a reformed character.
Judge Hayes remarked that these were serious threats to make and it was undoubtedly a terrifying experience for the other people to be set upon in this manner.
Even it was a response to threats it was entirely disproportionate.
The appropriate response was to go to the garda station “which is not a million miles away”.
A probation report told of “sporadic engagement” with the Probation Service over the years.
However, the defendant had made significant progress and was assessed at moderate risk of reoffending.
He lived with the mother of his children who he said was very supportive after he had tested their relationship.
Mr Conlon had completed the first year of a degree programme, had a full-time job and was drug and drink-free and had removed himself from certain people. His mental health had stabilised.
He had been a victim of crime and a had “a new awakening,” the report stated.
Judge Hayes said that it was as positive a probation report as one could get. The defendant appeared to have fully rehabilitated.