Limerick brothers jailed for 14 years for gun attack on family’s home
David Raleigh
Two brothers from Limerick have been jailed for 14 years in total after they admitted carrying out a gun attack on a house last June.
Roy Roche (35), who fired six rounds at the house from a sawn-off double-barrel shotgun, was jailed for eight years. Pa Roche (33), who carried the gun, was jailed for six years.
Both men, with an address at Cliona Park, Moyross, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a 12-gauge, sawn-off, over-and-under, breach-loading shotgun, with intent to endanger life; and one count of suspicious possession of the firearm; as well as one count of causing criminal damage.
The intended targets of the early morning shooting, carried out on June 6th, were brothers Willie Doran (20) and Joe Crawford, aka Joe Doran (17), the court heard.
Bottles and other implements were thrown at the Doran-Crawford family home at Altamira Court, Thomondgate, the night prior to the gun attack, as tensions flared between the two Roche brothers, their associates, and the two Doran brothers.
Other members of the Doran-Crawford family, including young children, had decided to temporarily move out of the house following the bottle attack to keep themselves and their children safe.
Roy Roche fired the six shots at 5am.
The court heard the shots blasted through windows at the front sitting room and through an upstairs bedroom window, and peppered the interior walls.
Joe Doran, who was in the sitting room at the time, dived for cover as the bullets came through the downstairs windows, it was heard.
Joe Doran shouted out to his brother, Willie, who was asleep in an upstairs bedroom.
John O’Sullivan, prosecuting barrister, said the Doran brothers recognised the Roche brothers’ voices outside, who were shouting “come out, come out”.
Joe Doran used his mobile phone to record live CCTV images on a security system at the property, showing the two Roche brothers with the gun.
The Roche brothers had also been tracked via CCTV cameras carrying the gun as they walked from their family home to the Doran Crawford household.
Following the shooting, the defendants fled on foot, and dumped some of their clothing as well as the gun and cartridges at an area nearby, known locally as Donnelan’s Field.
A short while later the defendants walked back to the scene of the crime to collect some of the spent shells from the discharge of the sawn-off shotgun, in an attempt to remove any forensic link to the shooting, however gardaí arrested them at the scene.
At this point, Willie Doran shouted at the two Roche siblings: “Are ye picking up the bullets boys, are ye?”
John O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said gardaí also harvested CCTV footage, which he said had captured “a flash” prior to the gun attack, that gardaí believe was a practice shot “in preparation for the job at hand”.
A photograph of the firearm used in the shooting was shown to sentencing judge Colin Daly.
Mr O’Sullivan said the two barrels of the shotgun had been sawn off to make it “easier to conceal” the firearm as the men walked to the Doran house.
Garda Aoife Keane, Mayorstone Park Garda Station, agreed with Mr O’Sullivan that six spent shotgun cartridges that were recovered at the scene was “significant” in terms of the serious nature of the shooting because it showed that Roy Roche “repeatedly reload” the gun, which could only fire two rounds at a time.
A “significant” amount of gunshot residue was found on a hooded top worn by Roy Roche on the morning of the shooting, it was heard.
While in custody following his arrest, Roy Roche was asked by gardaí if his DNA would be found on the gun, and he replied: “Probably my fingerprints, but I don't know where they came from”.
When asked by detectives why he went to the scene, Roy Roche said: “Because I heard loud bangs and I thought my brother’s house was shot in.”
The Roche brothers, between them, had previous convictions for possessing drugs, trespassing, failing to appear in court, affray, handling stolen property, burglary, road traffic offences.
Their barristers, Amy Nix BL, for Roy Roche, and Liam Carroll BL, for Pa Roche, sought leniency for the pair, and told the court the two defendants had experienced a “difficult” upbringing.
The two defendants were separated from one another and the rest of their siblings and taken into care separately when they were aged 11 and nine following the death of their father.
They have both also struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, the court heard.
The Doran brothers declined to make victim impact statements. The court heard there was no longer any animosity between them and the Roche brothers.
