http://www.herald.ie/news/courts/thug-hijacked-jeep-with-child-9-in-back-29098571.html
A MAN who hijacked a woman's jeep as her
nine-year-old child was in the back won't serve any extra jail time for
the crime. (Pictured is the victim's husband, Dr Kevin Moran).
The victim, Bernadette Moran (37), is the wife of the Donegal football team doctor, Kevin Moran.
She
was in Dublin with her three children for an All-Ireland quarter-final
match in Croke Park when Christopher Coakley (21) pulled her out of her
jeep and tried to drive away.
He ignored her pleas to let her get
her child from the backseat but the woman managed to flee with the child
as Coakley was distracted by trying to work the jeep's controls.
Judge
Desmond Hogan sentenced him to three years which is to run alongside a
three-year sentence he is serving for a firearms offence. This was
backdated to December 5 last when he was taken into custody.
Coakley,
of Belvedere Place, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to
hijacking the jeep at Mountjoy Square on August 5, 2012.
The court
heard he has 92 previous convictions and during his teens he was up
before the Children's Court "two or three times a week".
The judge
said he was not going to impose a consecutive sentence as Coakley "is
still a young man" but warned that this shouldn't be seen as a
precedent. He imposed 12 months post-release supervision.
Garda
Carl Byrne told prosecuting counsel Martina Baxter that Ms Moran had
stopped the jeep and was waiting as two of her children played in the
park.
She looked in the rear-view mirror and saw someone running
towards her. Coakley then pulled open the door and told her to "get the
f*** out".
Ms Moran was able to grab her phone before getting out of the jeep.
Coakley
got in the driver's seat and was trying to operate the gears as Ms
Moran pleaded with him to let her get the nine-year-old from the
backseat.
Coakley was trying to accelerate with the handbrake on
and there was black smoke coming from the exhaust. Ms Moran used the
opportunity to get the child out, seconds before the jeep sped off.
The vehicle was found abandoned shortly afterwards and a fingerprint on the door led to Coakley's arrest the next month.
Coakley's mother, Paula Johnson, said she is "so ashamed and sorry for the woman and her children".
She tearfully told the court her son needs residential treatment for his drug abuse because "this is no life for anyone."
