AN ELDERLY farmer who was tied up and robbed by two of his neighbours has been praised for his remarkable Christian attitude after he asked a judge not to jail those responsible for the “despicable offence”.
Larry Lenihan (70) was threatened by two men at his home in Dromtrasna South, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, on the evening of February 25th, 2009.
Before imposing sentence at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran said it was a “despicable offence” in which an elderly man living in a remote area had been targeted and threatened with violence.
Patrick O’Connell (27) and Kevin Scannell (28), both with addresses at Dromtrasna Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary on February 29th, 2009.
The court heard the accused men called to Mr Lenihan’s home at 8.30pm armed with a weapon. They threatened the bachelor, tied him up and forced him to give them the number of his bank card.
They left the man tied up in his house and went to a bank machine where they withdrew €500 from his account.
Mr Lenihan managed to free himself after an hour and ran across fields to a neighbour’s house where the alarm was raised.
The court heard the man was shaken and upset by his ordeal. In his victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Lenihan said he did not wish the accused men to be sent to prison.
The judge said it was as “serious an offence as you’re likely to see” and praised Mr Lenihan for his “remarkable act of generosity and Christian charity”.
The judge said such examples of mercy and forgiveness were not often seen and “when one does see it one must be impressed”.
“People who are so generous will definitely get their reward in the next life and will sometimes get their reward in this life,” he said.
The judge described the accused men’s guilty pleas and admissions to gardaí as mitigating factors in the case and also noted that neither of the men had serious criminal records.
He also accepted the “very fair” evidence given by Det Garda Michael Herlihy who accepted the expressions of remorse as genuine.
The judge was told the defendants had €15,500 in compensation for the injured party and he ordered that this money be paid over to Mr Lenihan.
Judge Moran imposed a four-year jail sentence, which he agreed to suspend for a period of four years “because of the substantial compensation and because of Mr Lenihan’s Christian attitude”.
He also ordered that the accused men avoid any contact with the injured party.