The 31-year-old man made threats in which he demanded cattle worth €20,000 from a south Monaghan farmer and was sentenced to three years in prison with 18 months suspended at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday last.

The sentence means that Marc Finnegan of Cullenstown, Readypenny, Dundalk, Co Louth, will effectively serve 18 months for his part in the extortion attempt.

Finnegan had pleaded guilty to demanding, with menaces, 18 in-calf heifers, valued at about €20,000, from a Mr Oliver (Ollie) Burns, at Mullinclavin, Magheracloone during a phone call to a house on 9 July 2011.

The court was told that threats were made during this call, and that Finnegan claimed to be a member of the IRA. He had threatened Mr Burns himself, and also his wife and sons. Similar threats had been made in a second phone call two days later.

The man had warned that Mr Burns’s sons would be taken across the border in a van and burned

Detective Garda Oliver Flaherty, in response to questions from Mr Frank Martin BL, prosecuting, confirmed that that the victim in this case was a farmer based at Magheracloone in south Monaghan who specialised in cattle dealing.

During a conversation that lasted 45 minutes, Finnegan had stated that he was from the IRA, and had warned that Mr Burns’s sons would be taken across the border in a van and burned, that his wife who worked in a garda station would be sacked, and that his cattle business would be closed down.

Phone call recorded

But the call was recorded by Mr Burns’s 17-year-old son, who happened to pick up a receiver in another room, the court was told. Detective Garda Flaherty confirmed that he recognised the voice of Mr Finnegan from this recording.

Judge Martin Nolan was told the defendant had a total of 54 previous convictions, 37 of which were for road traffic offences, while 16 were for animal cruelty (relating to cattle, and arising from incidents in December 2009 and May 2010).

The defendant had suffered a severe sexual abuse incident when a young teenager

The garda witness agreed with defence lawyer Richard Lyons SC that another person had been along with Finnegan when he made the call and may have been “prompting” the defendant. This person had been questioned but made no admissions and was never charged.

His lawyer said Finnegan was an only child who was living with and taking care of his parents. He had suffered a severe sexual abuse incident when a young teenager, and had threatened and attempted self-harm in recent years. It was accepted that the case had been adjourned from time to time, but this was because of his client’s mental health.

Despite the threats that were made, Mr Finnegan had never actually been involved with the IRA and had no history of violence. He had also come up with €7,000 for the Burns family as a tangible expression of remorse, counsel said, even though his own family were in very poor circumstances.

The judge described the offence as a distressing, insidious and cowardly crime

Giving his judgement, Judge Nolan said the threats made by Finnegan had been deeply distressing to the injured party and his family. He had wanted them to be believable, and they were, especially in this part of the country.

“Cowardly crime”

Describing the offence as “a distressing, insidious and cowardly crime”, Judge Nolan accepted that there were mitigating factors including the guilty plea, the expression of remorse, the compensation offer, and the defendant’s personal circumstances and background including psychiatric issues.

But when the call was made he “knew exactly what he was doing”, the judge also remarked.

Stating that he was of the view that a custodial sentence was warranted, Judge Nolan imposed a three-year sentence as stated, but suspended 18 months of that for one year in view of the mitigating factors.

The sentence was backdated to 4 October 2016 as Mr Finnegan had been custody since that time.

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