Vulnerable young man forced to take money from ATM in Waterford city

A man targeted and robbed a young man with an intellectual disability in broad daylight in Waterford City.

John McDonagh (32), of no fixed abode, was sentenced to seven years in prison for forcibly making the young man take €600 out of an ATM. The robbery happened on the afternoon of January 14, 2025, at the Apple Market.

Earlier on in the day McDonagh was scoping out the area with his co-accused Nancy McDonagh (Nancy McDonagh was given a four year sentence for her role in the robbery.) Nancy recognised the victim and knew him to be a vulnerable person. 

The pair surrounded him and coerced him into making three separate transactions of €200. 

CCTV footage showed McDonagh standing threateningly behind the victim, while Nancy kept a look out. Later footage captured McDonagh counting out the cash in a nearby hotel bar. 

Witnesses in the area told Gardaí that the pair had been loitering around the Apple Market for roughly 20 minutes before the robbery. 

McDonagh was arrested by Gardaí on January 31. While being interviewed by Gardaí he tried to argue that he was "set up" by the victim.

The investigating detective confirmed to Judge Eugene O'Kelly that the victim was purposefully targeted by the accused. The victim expressed in an earlier statement that he no longer felt safe walking around the city after the ordeal. He never received back the money, which he was saving up in his account at the time.

McDonagh has 149 previous conviction, 97 in the Republic of Ireland and 52 in the North of Ireland.

Defence counsel Kate Kelly BL told the court that her client had been in care since the age of four, growing up in various different homes. He had a diagnosis of ADHD and foetal alcohol syndrome.  

Judge O'Kelly passed a sentence of seven years, with the final year suspended. The sentence was backdated to January 2025, when McDonagh was first brought into custody. 

Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme