5 men who pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and Section 3 assault of a woman during a sustained assault in which the victim was “tortured” have been sentenced.
They are; Sean Conroy (20), with an address at Silloge Road, Ballymun, Dublin 11; Mark McMahon (54), with an address at Henrietta House, Bolton Street, Dublin 7; Mark Keogh (33), with an address at Henrietta House, Bolton Street, Dublin 7; Kian Walsh (21), with an address at Constitution Hill, Dublin 7; and Braxton Rice (21) of Henrietta House Dublin 7.
The assault took place at an address at Henriette House, Henrietta Place, Dublin last September.
All five had drug issues and were on bail in respect of various charges at the time of the committal of the offences.
Judge Pauline Codd remarked on the “very serious” nature of the “false imprisonment of a woman by a group of men”.
She said that their conduct was “underpinned by other criminality as the genesis” of what had been done to the woman, referring to how the assault arose.
The men “carried out violent, cruel, sadistic, and repeated assaults using number of implements” including a headed hammer which was used to burn the victim’s skin, a makeshift blow torch used to burn her face, blades, a metal pole, as well as a scissors which was used to cut off “clumps” of her hair.
Judge Codd noted that the victim is still on a waiting list to receive psychiatric care in respect of the ongoing psychological effects of her ordeal.
Braxton Rice also threatened that the woman would be “buggered” by a “gorilla”, a term used to describe a “black man”, and was also threatened by Rice that her teenage daughter would also be raped.
Judge Codd said this was “a threat of the most misogynistic and racist kind.” She noted that cutting off the victim’s hair was an “almost medieval ritualistic punishment.”
The court said that the victim had been “beaten to a pulp” and that her pleas for mercy had been ignored during the 3 hour ordeal. If Gardaí had not arrived at the premises, the charges the accused were facing would likely be more serious, she said.
Judge Codd referred to the victim impact statement of the injured party who said she believed that she would have been killed if the Gardaí had not come when they had.
She said that the actions showed in a “profound manner the degree that normal humanity is absent in the world drug dealing”.
The victim suffered skull fractures, lacerations, a fractured elbow, burns, bruises, and a displaced nasal bone.
During the assault in the one-room apartment, the men opened a door to allow them to have space to run up speed in order to hit the woman harder. She was also kicked in the face by Sean Conroy.
The oldest of the men, Mark McMahon, lied to Gardaí and denied his role in the assault, which took place at his flat, described as being unfit for a dog to live in, however he was captured on video hitting the woman in the head with a metal pole.
He was sentenced to 12 years for false imprisonment and 7-and-a-half years for Section 3 assault. Judge Codd remarked that the accused “must have left aside all humanity” during the assault of the “vulnerable woman”. He has since expressed his disgust at having been involved in violence against a female.
His son, Mark Keogh who lived at the flat with his father initially denied assaulting the woman, but admitted that her account of having been “tortured” was accurate.
He has 124 previous convictions including for possession of knives.
The court heard he was using heroin and crack cocaine at the time of the offence. He was sentenced to 9 years in jail for false imprisonment and 6 years for Section 3 assault, both sentences to run concurrently.
Sean Conroy, who was described as one of the “main movers eclipsed only by Braxton Rice” had sent messages to two other people “boasting” of the assault on the victim and saying he had “robbed” him.
He had a “horrific childhood” and “came into the world with drugs in his system”, a letter from his grandmother said.
He was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years for false imprisonment with the final 12 months suspended, and 7 years for Section 3 assault, to run concurrently, meaning his effective sentence is one of 12 years.
Main instigator, Braxton Rice was “born testing positive for drugs” and was the “ringleader” in the situation that led to the victim being brought to the flat where she was tortured.
He used a heated hammer head to burn the woman’s skin “over and over” and was the “inquisitor” when it came to questioning her over the missing drugs.
Described by a youth worker as “exceptionally empathetic and kind”, Judge Codd said that he had used “sadistic torture methods and threats he used on a defenceless woman”.
He initially denied what he had done before later taking “full responsibility”.
He was sentenced to 15 years for false imprisonment and 8 years for Section 3 assault.
The final 12 months of his sentence was suspended for a period of one year.
As he was sent down, a girl in the public gallery shouted, “Braxton, I love you!”