Violent burglar’s prison term increased

A VIOLENT burglar who broke into the rural home of a cancer-stricken woman and beat her husband with a hurley has had his prison sentence increased by the Court of Appeal.

Carl Freeman, 23, was initially jailed for five years in 2017 after he admitted aggravated burglary at the home of William, 72, and Kathleen Crean, 65, about a mile outside Ashford Village, Co. Wicklow, on March 12, 2015. The court heard how, in the early hours of that morning, three men entered the house, each of them armed with a hurley.

Mr Crean retreated to the bedroom, and tried to shut the door, but it was pushed in on top of him. One of the men shouted, ‘Where is the money? We know you have money’ before drawing his hurl and hitting Mr Crean on the shoulder with it.

Mrs Crean described how one intruder told her to sit on the bed before grabbing her by the throat. He then grabbed both her hands and looked at her fingers to see whether she had any rings on. He held his hurley over her legs as if to hit her, but Mr Crean pleaded with him: ‘Don’t hit her. She’s not well.’

Eventually the intruders left, having taken about €150 in cash. Mr Crean had to go to a neighbour’s house to raise the alarm.

The appeal court yesterday found the sentence imposed on Freeman, of Rossfield Park, Tallaght, Dublin, to be too lenient, on foot of an appeal brought by the DPP. He was resentenced to ten years with four suspended.