Limerick man jailed for role in feud-linked drive-by shooting at a house as children played

A LIMERICK man has been jailed for his role in a feud-related drive-by shooting with a semi-automatic gun at a house where children were present.

The accused - Shane O’Donoghue - was a passenger in the car during the gun attack carried out by the driver. 

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The vehicle was being driven by Kieran Fogarty, who four months later killed UL student Joe Drennan in a hit-and-run collision in Castletroy.

O’Donoghue, aged 26, of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, Limerick city pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a named individual in O’Malley Park, Southill and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Hyde Road on the same date. Both offences occurred on June 4, 2023.

O’Donoghue also pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage at a different house on Hyde Road on August 21, 2023.

Judge Colin Daly, in delivering his sentence, outlined the facts of the case which were heard on an earlier date.

The judge said on a Sunday afternoon, O’Donoghue and an accomplice (Fogarty) pulled up in a car at an address in O’Malley Park where some of the house’s residents were in the garden. 

“The accused shouted at a woman, who was holding an infant in her arms, that he would shoot a son of hers dead. Her son had removed himself into the house when he saw the car,” said Judge Daly. 

Fogarty and O’Donoghue drove off and collected a firearm. 

They  then drove to a house on the Hyde Road owned by a brother of the woman, who was holding the baby in O’Malley Park 

“The driver (Fogarty) of the car discharged a number of shots - three or four - from the car towards the house. Members of the family, including children, were outside the house at the time as it was a sunny Sunday afternoon,” said Judge Daly.

The judge said no casualties were caused during this incident but it appears that an individual may have been grazed by a bullet, which only recently came to light.

Cartridges recovered by investigating gardai indicated it was a semi-automatic weapon.

Judge Daly said O’Donoghue “exhibited an enormous degree of recklessness in carrying out this action with his co-accused (Fogarty) when adults and children were outside the house when shots were fired”.

The judge said O’Donoghue’s role is one of “common design in this endeavour”.

“Society simply cannot countenance young men driving around the city discharging firearms into private residential houses,” said Judge Daly, who added that it “appears to be part of a wider feud and disproportionate retaliation to a perceived threat”.

The court heard that O’Donoghue also pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage at a different house on Hyde Road than the one that was shot at.

The judge said on August 21, 2023, O’Donoghue broke windows and the door. He then left but returned later and broke glass in the front door of the house.

Judge Daly, in mitigation, took into account O’Donoghue’s guilty pleas which he said were of material assistance to the State and gardai.

The judge imposed a seven-year prison sentence for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and a concurrent five years in jail for threatening to kill.

Judge Daly handed down three-year sentences on each of the two criminal damage counts. He made the three-year sentence consecutive to the seven-year sentence.

Considering the principle of totality, the judge suspended the final two years of O'Donoghue’s 10 -year prison sentence. 

His accomplice in the drive-by shooting - Kieran Fogarty, aged 21, of  Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, received eight years with the final 12 months suspended  at the Court of Appeal in early November.

 He also received eight years in prison with the final 12 months suspended for dangerous driving causing the death of Joe Drennan.

This made a total sentence of 14 years with the final year suspended. 

 Fogarty was also disqualified from driving for 20 years.