Suspended sentence for man with who threatened woman with '12 inch' kitchen knife

A man who called to the home of a terrified woman in Bundoran brandishing a kitchen knife and demanding to be let in has been given a suspended jail sentence.

David Moran, who has 94 previous convictions, called to the woman's home at Elaghmore, Bundoran. The 35-year-old Moran had been spotted with another man calling "door to door" at homes on the estate and was spotted with the knife.

Worried neighbours called Gardai and they arrived to find Moran and another man on the scene at 3.30pm on the afternoon of March 28, 2021. Gardai spotted a large knife stick from the back pocket of Moran who immediately dropped it when confronted by Gardai.

Garda Paul Corcoran told Donegal Circuit Court that Moran claimed he was being threatened by somebody who wanted to kill him and was arrested by Gardai. A woman at the scene later contacted Gardai and told how Moran and another man had tried to get into her home.

The 64-year-old woman, who lives alone, said she saw two men walking past her sitting room window. The men asked her to open the door and asking was she alone in the house but when she refused they became aggressive.

She told Gardai that she noticed one of the men had a long knife, about 12 inches in length with a thick blade on it. She said she was terrified and the men began cursing at her shouting "Open the F***king door."

Gardai arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and the woman said she only contacted Gardai to say what had happened when the men had been taken away. Gardai said the woman was not willing to make a victim impact statement but was aware the case was going on.

Moran has a total of 94 previous convictions for a range of charges including arson, attempted robbery, criminal damage, theft, public order, drugs and traffic.

On this occasion, he is charged with five other charges including that he did make a threat to a woman – intending that she would fear it would be carried out – to damage property, to wit, a vehicle.

He is further charged with while being a person on a premise as a trespasser, to wit, the front garden and outside the front window of a private house, that he had with him a knife, which had a blade or which was sharply pointed.

Moran is also charged that in the course of a dispute he produced in a manner likely unlawfully to intimidate another person an article capable of inflicting serious injury, to wit, a large kitchen knife.

The accused man took to the witness stand and said he had wanted to apologise to the woman after the incident but had been advised not to contact her.

He said he was shocked when he was told what had happened admitting it must have been a very frightening experience for her.

"I'm very sorry and it should never have happened," he added.

His barrister, Ms Patricia McLaughlin, said her client is already serving a sentence for another matter and had been suffering mental health issues and was suffering from paranoid delusions.

He added that he was not taking his medication on the day of the incident but is now back on track in prison where he works in the laundry and is working with addiction counsellor Ms Helen Madden.

She said her client accepts that his behaviour was unacceptable but has not displayed some insight into this behaviour.

He is one of four children from a family in Sligo who had a difficult upbringing and had been subjected to criminality and violence growing up.

He hopes to secure a place in Coolmine when released from prison in March 2026 and is currently an enhanced prisoner who is attending drug counselling and is on a waiting list to attend psychology services.

Ms McLaughlin said her client is a different person when not on drugs or alcohol and that he does appear to have undergone a real change since the birth of his daughter.

Passing sentence Judge John Aylmer said counts 4 and 5 being a trespasser with a knife and the production of said knife were the most serious offences and charged which merited four years in prison on each count before mitigation.

He said the accused had psychiatric issues and on this occasion, he did believe he was going to be killed.

Judge Aylmer said Moran had convinced the Probation Services that it may be the case that he is turning a corner and completing a full residential treatment in Coolmine will be part of that as well as the birth of his child a year ago.

The Judge said he wanted to ensure that nothing he did stands in the way of that continued rehabilitation but wanted to incentivise it and he reduced that four-year sentence to one of two years and eight months to run concurrently to each other.

However, in the interests of Moran's rehab and all the other factors identified, Judge Aylmer said he was suspending that sentence on the condition that he undergoes the supervision of the Probation Services for two years after his release from prison and abstains from alcohol and unprescribed drugs.