TWO drug addicts involved in stabbing a man who was lured to a Limerick city apartment by two female associates, have been jailed for four years each.
Last March, five heroin addicts all high on “snow blow” crystal meth, lured a victim to an apartment where they beat and robbed him to feed their drug habit.
Judge Carroll Moran was told at a sentencing hearing in Limerick Circuit Court that the gang had planned to “pick some eegit, bring him back to an apartment and rob him.”
John Coleman, (26) of Clare Street; Amanda Coleman, (27) of McGarry House Alphonsus Street; Pamela Maher (29), of Upper Gerald Griffin Street and Emer O’Connell (30) of Clare Street, Limerick were charged with robbery, falsely imprisoning and assaulting the man on March 23 last.
A fifth man, 28-year-old Clive Casey also pleaded guilty to his involvement in the attack.
Gardai were alerted when the victim, who was bleeding profusely, told them that he was approached by two women who asked for a lift home from a local nightclub.
He accepted their invitation to go into apartment for a cup of tea. They were trying to undress him when two men appeared.
The victim was tied up and John Coleman held a knife to his throat while Clive Casey stabbed him in the upper shoulder and neck area.
During his ordeal, the victim was told he would be castrated, have his throat slit, while one of the defendants said “I will f***ing kill you” if he didn’t hand over his money.
Amanda Coleman emerged from a wardrobe and searched his pockets while he was being held and beaten by the others. He was stabbed twice more and received other cuts and blows.
Pamela Maher was six months pregnant when she committed the offence and Emer O’Connell, who had 120 previous convictions, admitted that it was her fault the victim came back to the apartment.
Judge Carroll Moran said the two men were the most culpable and jailed them for four years each but suspended the final year. He also activated previous suspended sentences for both men.
The three women received suspended sentences.
