Ballyshannon man who held knife to women’s throats jailed 

A man who held a knife to the throat of two women in Ballyshannon has been put behind bars.

Brian McDonagh, who has 35 previous convictions, was jailed for two years and four months when he appeared before Judge John Aylmer at Donegal Circuit Court.

The 24-year-old was charged with two counts of making threats to kill, while he also faced charges of the production of an article, namely a knife, capable of inflicting serious injury, and a charge of causing criminal damage to an Apple iPhone 8.

McDonagh, of Lawn Park, Ballyshannon, was before the court in connection with an incident at the same address on January 27, 2023.

Garda Sergeant Cathal Brady outlined the circumstances of the incident to Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the State.

At around 1am on the date in question, Gardai were alerted to an incident at Lawn Park, Ballyshannon.

Due to what was reported on the call, the Armed Support Unit was deployed to assist at the scene. 

A knife was discovered in the front pocket of a hoodie being worn by McDonagh.

When Gardai arrived, McDonagh began shouting to the women: “Don’t talk to them. Don’t make any statement”.

He was then arrested and conveyed to Ballyshannon Garda Station. When interviewed by investigating officers, McDonagh made no admissions.

McDonagh told one of the women: “I’ll cut ya” as he pressed the knife to her throat. The woman told Gardai that she felt fear. She also reported that McDonagh had punched and kicked her.

The court heard how McDonagh also held the knife to another woman’s throat during the same incident.

“He was shouting and roaring; he was angry, holding a knife and said he would cut the throat off me,” she told Gardai in a statement. “I could feel the steel of the knife against my throat. I was scared.”

McDonagh also took an iPhone belonging to one of the women and threw it into the fireplace, causing damage to the phone in the process.

McDonagh has 35 previous convictions, including 11 for theft, four for assault, two for the possession of knives, six under the Public Order Act and three Criminal Damage matters. 

Sergeant Brady said that both women were canvassed to make victim impact statements, but had declined. 

The court was informed that McDonagh was on remand at the time of the offences and subsequently fled to France for a period. He later returned to Ireland and handed himself in voluntarily to Gardai.

McDonagh’s barrister, Mr Colm Smyth SC - instructed by solicitor Mr Gerry McGovern - said his client asked him to convey an apology.

“He is deeply apologetic and he realises how serious a matter that it was,” Mr Smyth said. “He was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time. 

“He realises now what he did was very wrong. He decided to put things right. He came back here and handed himself in and is now here on a signed plea of guilty.”

Asking Judge Aylmer to be as lenient as possible, Mr Smyth added: “He has a bad record, no question, but there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel. He is intent on getting his life back on track again.”

The court heard that McDonagh has been in prison since October having been handed an eight-month sentence for an assault causing harm, while he was also recently jailed for eight months for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and a four-month sentence was handed down for a theft.

In sentencing McDonagh, Judge John Aylmer said that the most aggravating feature in the case was that he was wielding a knife and held it to the throat of his victims.

Judge Aylmer said that the fact McDonagh was drinking and under the influence of drugs is not an excuse. He said McDonagh having “such a bad record of violent offences” was also an aggravating feature. 

That one of the victims was an intimate partner at the time was also an aggravating feature.

Judge Aylmer placed the threats to kill on the mid-range of such offending and merited a starting point of five years in prison while the production of a knife was at the upper end of such offending and should carry a starting point of five years in prison while the criminal damage charge could be taken into account.

Judge Aylmer said that the mitigating circumstances “are few enough” but McDonagh was entitled to a one-third reduction in light of his signed plea.

He said McDonagh is “clearly a person in need of considerable rehabilitation and clearly a person in need of counselling.”

The sentence was reduced to three years and four months in prison, which will run consecutively to the 20-month sentence McDonagh is currently serving.

In the interests of rehabilitation and taking into account the totality principle, Judge Aylmer suspended the final 12 months of the sentence.

The last 12 months were suspended for a period of 18 months on condition that McDonagh abstain from unprescribed drugs and alcohol and that he go under the supervision of the Probation Service for a period of 18 months. He was also ordered to comply with all directions and attend counselling and programmes as deemed necessary.