A Clonmel, Co Tipperary, man, a convicted murderer, has been jailed for 12 years by Judge Patrick McCartan for abducting a 15-year-old girl in the town late one night in 1997.
Michael "Horse" O'Leary (40), of Garrymore Estate, absconded from an open prison in England in 1995 having served 10 years of a life sentence for murder. He also has a conviction for indecent assault and is currently serving 18 months for an assault in which he threatened to drown an infant.
He was convicted by a jury on January 28th last at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for falsely detaining Ms Sarah Freiburg and assaulting her at Queen Street, Clonmel, on January 18th, 1997.
He was given a four-year sentence for the assault, which will run concurrent with the 12-year term. Judge McCartan said the 12-year term would date from O'Leary's conviction because he was on bail when he attacked Ms Freiburg and sentence had to be consecutive to his current term.
Defence counsel Mr Aiden Doyle said O'Leary was a father of four and had spent three years in the Army. His murder conviction arose out of an incident on a building site.
Counsel said that O'Leary had studied in prison to become a mechanic. The English prison authorities allowed him out on five-day release but he came home to Clonmel when he heard that his mother was ill. The abduction and other offences happened on his return home.
Judge McCartan said it wasn't clear from the evidence if his intentions in regard to Ms Freiburg were "sinister in the extreme" in relation to her life or if his attack was a precursor to a sexual assault.
"You have done both in the past," Judge McCartan told him. "You were also involved in an appalling incident in December 1996 when you threatened to take the life of an infant by drowning it in a nearby river."
Judge McCartan said the evidence showed O'Leary was "a person of unpredictable character" who didn't have a psychotic problem but did have a personality problem. Drink was a major factor.
He added that the interests of the community must be the court's first concern and O'Leary had to be taken out of the community for as long as the law allowed. He would review the sentence on March 28th, 2005, and O'Leary must show then that he had dealt with his alcohol problem.
Sgt Larry O'Riordan told prosecuting counsel Mr Fergal Kavanagh that the English authorities had issued an extradition warrant for O'Leary's return to complete his murder sentence.
The jury heard evidence from two witnesses who identified O'Leary as the person seen running away from the screaming teenager he grabbed around the neck on a dark street.
Ms Freiburg said a man grabbed her from behind and said, "Live or die, it's your choice." Some people came from a taxi and her assailant ran off. She was very frightened and screamed for help.
Mr Keith Gardner said that after he heard a loud scream near the end of Oliver Plunkett Terrace he met O'Leary, who was running from the place where the taxi had stopped. He shouted at him but O'Leary just covered his head and ran.