A FORMER construction worker, who imprisoned a woman at his home and threatened to chop her up with a machete, was jailed for four years with the final year suspended.
Francis ‘Frank’ O’Shea, (53), of Cecil Street, Limerick City, pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to one count of false imprisonment, two counts of making threats to kill or cause serious harm, as well as producing a foot-long machete.
The offences occurred at Mr O’Shea’s basement flat on April 4, 2024.
Prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan told O’Shea’s sentencing hearing that Gardaí responded to his flat after a call was made about “a male holding a female hostage and wielding a butcher’s knife”.
There were six people in the flat at the time, including O’Shea, who were consuming “substances”, the court heard.
Garda Paul Barrett, who was stationed at Henry Street Garda Station at the time, told the court he observed O’Shea inside the flat “holding a large machete type knife and there were two females in a distressed state”.
The two women were able to escape the flat while O’Shea was distracted by Gardaí.
Garda Barrett said he arrested O’Shea after observing him holding a “black-handled blade that was about one foot in length”.
The court heard the victim travelled to an appointment at an addiction service in Limerick earlier in the day, met a friend and ended up inside O’Shea’s flat.
At the time O’Shea was highly “intoxicated, aggressive, and paranoid”, Mr O’Sullivan told the court.
The court heard the victim said she and two other women went into a bedroom to avoid O’Shea, but he followed them into the room “waving a machete”.
Mr O’Sullivan said the woman told Gardaí that O’Shea put his knees on her chest, and she was crying in fear as O’Shea told her that “crying won’t change anything”.
He said O’Shea “kept swinging the machete and threatening to slash (the victim’s) face”.
“He said that he would cut her up and throw her in the river.”
The court heard the victim has since died in an unrelated matter.
Another woman who was in the flat at the time said O’Shea became aggressive and called them “druggies and whores”.
The woman said O’Shea was “swinging” the machete and told Gardaí that “he said he was going to kill us and cut us up”.
O’Shea’s barrister, senior counsel Brian McInerney, described O’Shea as a “family man with grown up children who worked in the construction trade”.
Mr McInerney said O’Shea became addicted to alcohol and then heroin and crack cocaine.
“He wishes to express his deep remorse for his behaviour on the night, he was in an appalling state, having continued to drink ferociously and take narcotics.”
O’Shea had previous convictions, including in 2011 for possession of a knife for which he received a three month suspended sentence; as well as assault in 2001 for which he was given 140 hours of community service.
Judge Colin Daly directed O’Shea engage with the probation service for one year after his release and seek help for his addiction issues.