Suspended sentence for Tipp woman

Photo: © Pat Flynn

A Tipperary woman who “goaded” a man via social media to carry out an attack on a family home has walked free from court.

Ennis Circuit Court heard that a gun and a firebomb were used in the attack

Judge Francis Comerford imposed a 15 month suspended prison term on 33 year old Suellen Keenan of Ardarra, Portroe for aiding and abetting the crime of endangerment.

It related to an attack on the O’Loughlin home at 25 Pearse Avenue, Cloughleigh, Ennis just after midnight on November 22nd 2021.

Judge Comerford jailed the primary participant in the crime, Martin Mongans of College Grove, Ennis for four years and ten months for the firebomb and shotgun attack “on a house full of children”.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that Suellen Keenan and Martin Mongans were sister in law/brother in law and they also have a child together.

In sentencing Ms Keenan, Judge Comerford said that she “had encouraged Mr Mongans to carry out this attack”.

He said: “She knew that Martin Mongans intended to carry out a violent attack and knew that a gun was going to be involved and to be well out of the ordinary.”

However he was satisfied that Ms Keenan was at her home in Co Tipperary at the time of the attack and was not a primary participant in the crime.

Ennis Circuit Court was told that the background to the dispute was that Mr Mongans encountered Mr O’Loughlin’s wife, Kelly-Anne in Ennis town centre and she didn’t like the way he looked at her and Mr O’Loughlin made a phone call to Mr Mongans to remonstrate about that.