Burglar who tied up mum and terrified daughter (8) gets 11 years

A MAN has been jailed for 11 years for the false imprisonment of a mother and her eight-year-old daughter in their home.

Declan Murphy (53) and at least two other men forced their way into the family home in Howth, Co Dublin, on the morning of December 13, 2013.

They used cable ties to tie up the woman and girl and then ransacked the house.

The men took €27,000 in cash and more than €30,000 worth of jewellery before making off in the woman’s car. It was found abandoned with a flat tyre a short time later in Howth village.

Gardaí examined CCTV to link the burglary to a white van registered to a man named Eamon Brennan, now dead.

Brennan (35), of Woodfarm

Cottages, Palmerstown, and Murphy, of North Frederick Street, Dublin, were charged in October 2016.

In January 2014 gardaí stopped the white van and found a cigarette butt in it which was linked to Murphy using DNA analysis.

Gardaí also analysed mobile phone usage in the Howth area at relevant times to connect Brennan and Murphy.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that four pre-paid unregistered phones were used only for the execution of the burglary.

The burglary took place after the woman’s husband had left for work. The woman heard someone knocking on the front door and saw a calling card had been left advertising garden maintenance.

She opened the door and the men, one of whom had a crowbar, forced their way past her and pulled her inside.

The woman’s daughter, who was at home sick from school, came downstairs and the men tied both mother and daughter up in a small bathroom.

Murphy initially pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary, false imprisonment of two people and theft of the car.

During a trial last February the defence raised issues over the use of mobile phone evidence, with some legal reference to Graham Dwyer’s civil appeal. After this legal argument ended, Murphy changed his pleas, pleading guilty to aggravated burglary and two false imprisonment charges.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said the burglary had had a profound effect on her life and she was now afraid to be alone in her home.

She thought about how the crime was planned and her family were watched.

She said Christmas can never be the same since the burglary and it upsets her that her daughter had to watch her mother being dragged around the house and have her watch pulled from her arm.

Judge Pauline Codd said the significant aggravating factors were the premeditation and pre-planning.

She said it was a gross violation of the family’s sense of security and was something they will never forget.

The judge said she was particularly taking into consideration the ongoing effect on the victims and the woman’s sense of not being able to protect her daughter.

She accepted the late guilty plea was of some benefit as it spared the victims the trauma of having to testify. She also noted the burglary lasted under an hour, though she said “it must have seemed like an eternity” to the victims.

Judge Codd also noted Murphy’s expressions of remorse, though she said they rang “somewhat hollow”.

Finally she noted his ongoing drug addiction problems, although she said he didn’t appear to have been on drugs at the time of this crime.

She suspended the final year of a 12-year prison term.

Murphy’s 157 previous convictions include 38 for burglary. In December 2013 he was serving a suspended sentence for a 2012 handbag snatch at Howth Dart station, during which he threatened people with a knife.

The daughter had to watch her mother being dragged around the house