Tipperary man who 'scared the sh*t' out of woman and family is given a suspended sentence

A man who caused criminal damage to a woman’s car had had a finger cut off by a drugs gang over a drugs debt, Nenagh District Court heard.

Ian Quigley, 31, of 9 Páirc an Chlochair, Borrisokane, pleaded to the offence at Finnoe Road, Borrisokane, on June 4, 2022.

The court heard that the injured party had received a number of texts from Mr Quigley that day looking for her brother who, he claimed, owed him money.

He later came across the injured party as she was sitting in her car with four children aged between 16 years and four years and kicked the side of her vehicle.

The court heard Mr Quigey had 33 previous convictions.

The injured party told the court that after the incident she didn’t sleep for a few nights and Mr Quigley had “scared the sh*t” out of them.

One of her children was autistic, she said and it was playing on his mind that someone was going to hurt his mammy.

Told by Mr Quigley’s solicitor, Andrew Darcy, that his client wanted to formally apologise to her and that he accepted he had caused her upset, the woman said: “He could have said that before.”

Mr Quigley told his victim: “I was in a bad state and under pressure. You say I frightened your son and that has hit me.”

He said that he couldn’t have apologised sooner because of the pending case, and he felt that would only “add fuel to the fire”.

The woman accepted his apology.

Mr Darcy described Mr Quigley’s life as a “sad situation”.

“He got himself into drug debt and those he owed money to cut off his finger with a garden shears looking for the debt to be repaid,” he said.

Mr Darcy said the injured party was “victimless” in this, and that Mr Quigley was still “best friends” with her brother.

The court heard that Mr Quigley had been issued with a warning by the gardaí saying his life had been under threat.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath told Mr Quigley that if he didn’t co-operate with the gardaí, “these people will eventually do whatever they can do”.

The judge was concerned that a young child had been impacted by the incident and wondered if there was anything that could be done to allay their fears.

She noted Mr Quigley had been under pressure at the time and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for two years on his own bond of €500.

Recognizance were fixed in Mr Quigley’s own bond of €250.