A MAN who subjected a woman to a frightening ordeal, during which she was kidnapped, threatened, robbed and had a knife placed to her throat, has been sentenced to five years in prison.
At Limerick Circuit Court, James Kelly (22), Maple Court, Kennedy Park, Limerick, pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Caroline Moran at Colbert Station in the city on May 4th.
Kelly, a chronic heroin addict, also pleaded guilty to hijacking her vehicle and to stealing more than €500 from her.
The court was told that the defendant, who was armed with a Stanley knife, approached the victim as she returned to her car after travelling from Dublin to Limerick on the train.
Sensing trouble, she got into the back seat of her car and tried to lock the door. “He had a look of evil in him,” she later told gardaí.
He forced his way into the car and after taking €40 from her purse, held the knife to her throat and ordered her to drive to an ATM at the Roxboro shopping centre, where he forced her to withdraw €500 from her account.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Moran said she has undergone counselling and is on medication due to the “shock and trauma” she experienced. She said she could not work for several weeks after the incident and she told the court she has lost her self-confidence as a result of what happened.
During an earlier hearing, Ms Moran broke down in the witness box as she described how her daughter’s First Holy Communion, which took place three days later, was ruined. She said she could no longer travel alone and that she feared she may have to give up her job as it involved regularly travelling to Dublin.
Judge Carroll Moran said the injured party was “terrified and profoundly traumatised” after the events and even got sick in Roxboro Garda station. “It is as bad a case of false imprisonment as anyone could encounter,” he said.
Kelly received a six-year sentence on the charge of false imprisonment, with the final two years suspended. He also received a further year in prison on numerous burglary charges.