Three women who pleaded guilty to money laundering offences for one faction of the Drogheda feud have each received a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence.
At a previous sentence hearing for the three women, two brothers were for the first time named in court as the alleged leaders of the Boylan organised crime group.
Keith Boylan, aged 30 and of Moneymore in Drogheda, was named as the leader of the organised crime group.
His 26-year-old brother Josh was also named by a garda witness in court as the group's second-in-command.
The Drogheda feud, which erupted in 2018, saw two gangs battle for control of the drugs trade in the town.
There were multiple shootings and four people were killed, including teenager Keane Mulready-Woods.
The 17-year-old's dismembered remains were later found in two separate locations.
In June, Garda John Walsh of Drogheda Garda Station named both brothers during a sentence hearing for the three women who pleaded guilty to money laundering offences for the Boylan organised crime group.
The women are Marlena Aleksandrowicz, aged 29, from Bridgefield in Northwood, Santry, Dublin; 27-year-old Jade Heeney, from the Hill of Rath in Drogheda and 28-year-old Annie Smith, of The Alders, Avourwen in Drogheda.
Garda Walsh told Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court that the Boylan organised crime group was involved in the large-scale importation of drugs for sale.
He said the women had allowed their bank accounts or Revolut accounts or both to be used to facilitate payments to or from the organised crime group.
All of the offences took place between 2020 and 2021.
The court was told that each of the women had connections to the Boylans.
Heeney was in a relationship with Keith Boylan for four years while Smith is a former partner of Josh Boylan. Aleksandrowicz was a friend of Keith's girlfriend.
Today, Judge Dara Hayes said these were serious offences by which a serious criminal organisation based in Drogheda was facilitated in the laundering of its ill-gotten gains.
The judge said that albeit the amounts laundered through the women's accounts were relatively small, it is of "significant assistance" to a criminal organisation to have their criminal proceeds laundered.
He said these were not naive young women who had been approached by a stranger, but rather each one knew the criminals involved and the type of criminality they were engaged in.
However, Judge Hayes said it appears that the fear that each woman had of the criminals played a role in their offending.
He said Heeney had been in a "toxic" relationship with Keith Boylan while Smith was in a "violent and abusive" relationship with Josh Boylan.
The judge said he must also take into account Garda Walsh's previous evidence that the women were at the "lower rung" in the criminal enterprise.
Summing up the aggravating factors in the case, Judge Hayes said these included the serious nature of the offending and that this offending was connected to the activities of an organised crime group.
In mitigation, the judge said none of the women had come to any other adverse garda attention and he must take into account their personal circumstances, including that Aleksandrowicz and Smith were single mothers.
In each case, the judge said, the defendant appears to have got "very much over their head with serious criminals".
Judge Hayes said the appropriate headline sentence in each case was three-and-a-half years, but having taken into account mitigating factors and the women's personal circumstances, he reduced the sentence to two-and-a-half years in respect of each defendant.
He said the fact that Aleksandrowicz and Smith were single mothers would, on its own, not justify a suspended sentence.
However, this had to be taken into consideration along with other mitigating factors, including that the offending appears to have been an "aberration," and the efforts each woman has made to rehabilitate and to avoid any further adverse garda attention.
Judge Hayes then suspended each sentence in full on the condition that Aleksandrowicz, Heeney and Smith keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of two-and-a-half years.
