A Waterford man who was described by his victim as "pure evil" has been sentenced to seven years in prison. Twenty-four-year-old David Moran, from Ballybeg in Waterford City, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and falsely imprisoning Jamie O'Sullivan from Tramore at a Maxol filling station in January of last year.
The court heard that Mr O'Sullivan, a 24-year-old software engineer who worked part time in the filling station, suffered an horrific ordeal at the hands of Mr Moran, who repeatedly beat him with a golf club and kept him locked in the boot of a car as the went joyriding. The ordeal lasted seven hours and started at 9pm on the night of 16 January 2000, when Mr Moran and another man attempted to rob money from the filling station on the Tramore/Waterford road. A gun was held to the head of Mr O'Sullivan and he was forced into a car as he was locking up.
Tom Teehan BL, who represented Mr O'Sullivan, said that for the gratuitous and sustained ferocity, this case had few equals in Irish criminal history. The court heard that a dog had also been thrown into the boot of the car with Mr O'Sullivan, and that Mr Moran had broken a golf club on his victim as he hit him repeatedly.
Superintendent John Howard said that it was one of the most serious crimes he had ever seen in his time in the Gardaí. The court was told that Mr Moran was sorry for what he had done. Jamie O'Sullivan said that Moran had shown no compassion and added that he had never seen such pure evil. He said that he felt he was looking at the devil on the night in question. Judge Kevin Haugh took into account the guilty plea and sentenced Moran to seven years in prison. Leave to appeal was refused.
