BRUTAL THUG GUILTY OF TIGER KIDNAP
A MAN has been convicted of a brutal €90,000 tiger kidnapping in which a postmistress, her daughter and an Italian student were abducted.
Paschal Kelly has been remanded in custody after being found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
The 53-year-old will be sentenced in the New Year after Judge Karen O’connor requested victim impact statements.
Kelly, of Cootehill, Co Cavan, was convicted of trespass and false imprisonment of postmistress Susan Lawlor, her daughter Emma Carter and Italian Gabriella Saisa.
The horrific incident had occurred at Seabury Drive, Malahide, North Dublin, on September 25, 2014.
The defendant was also found guilty of robbing Ms Lawlor at Bayside Post Office, Sutton, North Dublin, and threatening to kill her, Ms Carter and Ms Saisa.
He was convicted of unlawful possession of a vehicle.
The jury of seven men and five women returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all charges after one hour and 40 minutes.
The trial lasted into a ninth week and the judge thanked jurors for their “extraordinary” service and commitment. She excused them from jury service for life.
During the case Ms Lawlor, Ms Carter and Ms Saisa described being abducted by two masked and armed intruders in the early hours of the morning and driven to various locations before the post office raid.
The two men broke into the home, tied the women’s hands with cable ties and bundled them all into Ms Lawlor’s Nissan Qashqai.
They were later joined by a third raider in a Volkswagen Golf at a field in an unknown location.
Ms Lawlor said one of the intruders had entered her room after breaking in and demanded to know if she had made a call.
She denied doing so to him, but told the jury she had managed to ring a special “tiger raid hotline number” issued by An Post when she heard her daughter screaming in the house.
Ms Lawlor added: “I feared for my life because the number one guy kept saying he was going to shoot me if I’d made the call.”
Ms Carter said it had “felt like a horror