A LIMERICK man who threatened to kill and burn down the house of a detective who was tracking his criminal activity has been jailed for four years at Limerick Circuit Court.
Darren ‘Joey’ O’Halloran (31) was sentenced by Judge Tom O’Donnell who was told that he phoned Henry Street Garda Station and made the threats to Detective Garda Pat Whelan warning him to “back off” the pursuit of his criminal gang.
The threats were made after Gardaí called to his home at Aurea Cottage, Dublin Road, in the early hours of the morning and found his brother hiding under attic insulation.
Darren O’Halloran was not arrested at the time as gardai had been searching for his brother.
Afterwards, on April 2, 2015, O’Halloran phoned Henry Street and identified himself and said: “Look Pat, we’ll do no more crime if ye back off me and Aaron.”
When Detective Whelan said he wouldn’t back off, O’Halloran became aggressive.
“I will kill ye, you c*** with your big yellow house and I will burn it to the ground. Don’t be coming to my house in the middle of the night” he said as the phone was put on loud speaker in the detective branch office.
O’Halloran, who was on bail at the time, had amassed 76 previous convictions when he made the threats.
Special security measures were put in place to protect Detective Whelan’s family.
Last week, O’Halloran opted for a jury trial after he denied the charges but was found guilty after four days of evidence.
