There were more angry scenes at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday when a Galway city man was sentenced to 8½ years in prison for charges connected to the discovery of a man's body in a stolen burnt-out car last year.
After Judge Raymond Groarke imposed sentence on Thomas "Tom Tom" McDonagh (27), Lios na Rún, Ballybane, Galway, members of the late Joseph Sweeney's family stormed out of court shouting: "You're a dead man walking, Tom Tom. You are the walking dead. We'll get you!"
Extra gardaí had been drafted in to court for the sentencing as clashes between members of the McDonagh and Sweeney families were expected, as had happened during two previous hearings.
Security measures were stepped up following disturbances in the courtroom on November 29th, when McDonagh pleaded not guilty to the unlawful killing of Joseph Sweeney (38), in the early hours of Monday, March 27th, 2006, at Rocklands Avenue, Ballybane. There were more violent clashes when that manslaughter trial collapsed for legal reasons on December 4th. McDonagh had pleaded guilty, shortly after Mr Sweeney's body was discovered in the car, to a charge of reckless endangerment, in that he intentionally or recklessly drove in a manner that created a substantial risk of death to another.
He also pleaded guilty to arson of the stolen car at Rocklands Avenue, Ballybane, to burglary at a house on College Road (from where the car keys had been stolen), and to the theft of the car.
Det Sgt Willie Byrne said McDonagh had drunk 10 pint glasses containing three to four vodkas each in a pub with others, including the deceased, in the hours before Mr Sweeney's death. Mr Sweeney's spinal cord was severed when the car, driven by McDonagh and in which he was a back-seat passenger, collided at speed with a taxi.
McDonagh left the scene and drove 500 yards to a grassy area at Rocklands Avenue where he set the car alight. He claimed he thought Mr Sweeney had run from the car with a third passenger. Mr Sweeney's charred remains were discovered in the car by gardaí the next day.