Suspended sentence for Waterford father and son
The mother and daughter had to go into emergency accommodation after the invalid notice of termination and threats.
A Waterford landlord and his son have had their sentences suspended for intimidation of a former tenant.
John Guiry (50), of Ballygarron, Kilmeaden and his son John Frampton (28), same address, had been given prison sentences for intimidation and coercion.
Guiry had been given a four-month sentence for coercion contrary to section 9 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Frampton received an eight-month sentence on a charge of making an unwarranted demand, with menaces, of the woman to immediately vacate her family home contrary to section 17, as amended, of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act.
The woman claimed Guiry said that he wanted her out by May 5, 2024, or he would be “sending people” to the property.
On May 2, 2024, five hooded men approached her at the property. One man, understood to be Frampton, threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave.
The encounter left the woman and her teenage daughter ‘terrified’.
On Wednesday, July 23, State Solicitor Frank Hutchinson outlined the facts of the case at the Waterford District Court of Appeal before Judge Sarah Berkeley.
The Court heard that May 2, 2024, a woman living in a rented property in Larchville reported a disturbing incident to An Garda Síochána.
A gang of five men had arrived to her home, dressed all in black with their hoods up and tied.
Three men stood at the wall of the front garden while another man approached the woman and made threats to kill her and ‘everyone in the house’ if she didn’t leave the property. He told her: “You’ve had plenty of notice to get the f**k out of here. I’ll be back and kill you and everyone in the house.”
The women pointed to the packed boxes in the house and said that she was “getting ready to go.” The hooded man retorted: “You better go or I will be back.” The woman’s teenage daughter was inside the house at the time of the encounter and witnessed the threats. She took a photo of the men and the vehicle they used. The vehicle was later identified as belonging to Frampton.
The woman and daughter recognised the man making the threats as their landlord’s son, based on his appearance.
The victim told Gardaí that she had been in a dispute with her landlord Guiry over moving out of the property and had gone through proceedings with the Residential Board of Tenancies(RTB). The RTB declared the termination notice as invalid and ordered the woman to be paid €4,500 in damages.
The woman stated in her victim impact statement that the incident left her ‘terrified’ for her daughter and herself. The family had to go into emergency accommodation.
Mairéad Deevy BL represented both father and son at the District Court of Appeal.
Ms Deevy said that the accused offered their apologies to the victim and her family and ‘had written letters to that effect’. The Court heard that in the aftermath of the incident, Guiry made ‘certain admissions’ to the event, while Frampton ‘exercised his right to silence’ during the interview with Gardaí.
Guiry told Gardaí that he was running on the Waterford Greenway at the time of the incident.
Judge Berkeley asked: “So explain why they did this?” According to the defence counsel, the tenant had been renting the property since 2013. In 2023, Guiry spoke to her about moving out of the property because his own daughter ‘fell pregnant’ and needed a place to live.
Ms Deevy said: “The tenant, quite correctly, didn’t want to go as rent was €750.” Over the following months, the woman tried to find other accommodation but failed to secure a new home.
The termination notice issued by Guiry was deemed invalid by the RTB.
Ms Deevy said that meant Guiry would have to ‘start the process all over again'.
“Rather than go through the legal means, they took the law into their own hands," he said.
The defence presented photos taken of the house in the aftermath in the event, which purportedly showed the property as being left in a ‘poor state’ after the incident. Judge Berkeley was also provided with character references for the defendants.
The Court heard that Guiry had no previous convictions, and Frampton had five previous convictions for road traffic offences. Both men were said to be in gainful employment,.
Ms Deevy later stated: “I can only say it was a moment of madness.” Judge Berkeley said: “Yes the house was left in a fairly bad state but there was no excuse for what happened.”
Judge Berkeley suspended both sentences for a period of 12 months and ordered them to pay the sum of €4,500 to the victim.
She said: “I think at this stage they’ve learnt not to take the law into their own hands.”
The men were ordered to keep the peace and remain on good behaviour for the 12 month period.
