A 26-year-old man has been jailed for four years for the robbery of a post-office that he committed while out on bail awaiting a retrial on a charge of murdering a 22-year-old beautician in a park in Co Cork.
Ian Horgan, originally from Innismore Square, Ballincollig, but with an address at The Hermitage, Macroom, pleaded guilty last Monday to the robbery of Clondrohid Post Office, near Macroom, and the unlawful taking of a car on September 6th, 2005.
Horgan was out on bail at the time having successfully appealed his conviction for the murder and rape of Rachel Kiely in the Regional Park in Ballincollig on October 26th, 2000, and he was awaiting a retrial when he committed the robbery, Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard.
The court heard the Court of Criminal Appeal ordered a retrial on the murder and rape charges and Horgan was convicted of the rape and manslaughter of Ms Kiely in the retrial in March 2006 and was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in jail for the offence
Det Garda Tom O'Sullivan today told how Clondrohid Post Master Ted Healy and his wife, Mary, were preparing lunch in the kitchen at the rear of the post-office cum shop when a man wearing a gauze mask and carrying a billhook entered the house.
He threatened them with the billhook and demanded money. When Mr Healy's son, Con came in from working in the yard, he forced him to open the safe in the post-office before locking all three in the kitchen
The raider managed to get away with €1,500 and made his getaway in Con Healy's Renault, which was found abandoned on the outskirts of Macroom the following day, Det Garda O'Sullivan told Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Gardaí found the billhook in the car as well as a knife that did not belong to the Healys, and a forensic examination of the knife revealed DNA traces belonging to Horgan, enabling them to link him to the crime, but he made no admissions when arrested, he said.
Det Garda O'Sullivan said that Mr Healy who was 71 at the time and his wife who was 74 were terrified during the raid and that Mr Healy pleaded with the man not to rough them up, while the whole event had a hugely traumatic effect on them.
Mrs Healy had since died, but Mr Healy was greatly relieved to learn that he would not have to give evidence, said Det Garda O'Sullivan, adding Horgan had convictions for assault, theft and burglary in addition to those for the rape and manslaughter of Ms Kiely.
Pleading for mitigation, Horgan's counsel, Tim O'Leary SC, said his client had pleaded guilty and was an unusual defendant in that he had spent all save for nine months of the past ten years in custody since being first jailed as a 16-year-old for Ms Kiely's killing.
Judge Patrick Moran said the robbery was an appalling event for the Healys which they found very upsetting and he sentenced Horgan to four years in jail with the sentence to commence later this year when his sentence for the rape and manslaughter of Ms Kiely is completed.
