O'Donnell receives four additional life sentences

TRIPLE murderer Brendan O'Donnell received an additional four life sentences and five other prison terms of up to 20 years at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.

The sentences related to the kidnappings of a young woman and an elderly farmer, hijackings of two vehicles, false imprisonment of a priest and four firearms offences in the west in 1994.

O'Donnell (22), a native of Co Clare but of no fixed abode, is already serving three life sentences after he was convicted by a jury on April 2nd of the murders of Imelda Riney (29), her son Liam (3), and Father Joseph Walsh (37). Yesterday Mr Justice Lavan sentenced him for nine other offences.

Chief Supt Martin Lally told Mr Kevin Haugh SC, prosecuting, that O'Donnell had abducted Father Walsh (37), the former curate of Eyrecourt, Co Galway, from his home on May 3rd, 1994, and held him at gunpoint until the following day when he shot him dead.

He said O'Donnell had a firearm and a substantial quantity of ammunition at Woodford, Co Galway, on May 7th, 1994. It had been taken from a neighbour's house some time previously. He agreed the gun was used to abduct Ms Fiona Sampson and force her to drive O'Donnell in a car. It was also used to force Mr Edward Cleary to stop his car and was discharged into the roof of the car when it was surrounded by gardai.

Supt Lally said O'Donnell had had a number of convictions since he was 14, He had spent a lot of time in penal institutions and had never worked after leaving school.

Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, asked the judge to take into account the evidence heard during the trial from O'Donnell's teachers, his sister and grandmother, and the psychiatric evidence. He also asked the judge to consider the appalling isolation and the sickness with which O'Donnell had lived from the age of three.

After the trial, O'Donnell was held in the Central Mental Hospital for a time and then moved to Arbour Hill prison where he remained, Mr MacEntee said. He was not receiving any significant drugs and was helping in the print shop in the prison.

He urged the judge to deal with O'Donnell "as a man who is sick, has been for a very long time and whose crimes were very significantly motivated by his disease rather than by simple choice".

Imposing sentence, Mr Justice Lavan said his duty was to see the sentence fitted the crime and to wave regard to justice and equality.

He had taken account of the plea for mitigation and had to balance that against the fact the jury had found O'Donnell responsible for his actions. "With great regret," the judge said, "I find no credible evidence of remorse on the part of the accused."

He must take a serious view of all the counts on the indictment, the judge added. Having regard to no evidence of remorse and the evidence he had heard during the trial, he concluded there were "no or no reasonably mitigating circumstances" which he could take into account.

He jailed O'Donnell for life for the false imprisonment of Father Walsh on May 3rd and 4th, 1994, and for the kidnapping of Mr Cleary because a firearm was discharged during that incident on May 7th, 1994. He also imposed two life sentences for possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life on May 7th, 1994.

Because the firearm was not used by O'Donnell when he abducted Ms Sampson, the judge said he was imposing a 20 year sentence. He imposed a 15 year sentence for hijacking a vehicle driven by Mr Cleary on May 7th 1994, a 10 year sentence for hijacking a vehicle driven by Ms Sampson and two 10 year sentences for possession of a firearm and ammunition for unlawful purposes.

The judge said the four life sentences would date from yesterday and the others from May 7th, 1994. All sentences would run concurrently.

Mr MacEntee sought leave to appeal on the grounds of severity and because, he submitted, the judge had not fully reviewed the psychiatric evidence for the jury at the end of the trial. Mr Justice Lavan refused, saying he had offered to give the jury a transcript of the psychiatric evidence, which was opposed by counsel for the defence and prosecution.