Man who stole van with two young children in the rear is jailed

A Navan man who stole a van with two young children in the rear when it's owner left the engine running as he went to put money in a parking meter was jailed for three and a half years at Trim Circuit Court.

The two terrified children - a 10 year old girl and a 6 year old boy were later abandoned in the middle of a dual carriageway near the centre of Navan the court heard.

Twenty one year old Christopher McDonagh, St Francis Park, Windtown, Navan pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment by removing a child from the rear of a vehicle on 6th Sept 2017 at Dublin road Navan and leaving the child in the company of another child creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm.

The defendant also admitted the unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle at Abbeylands South Navan on the same date.

Det garda Katryn Christie told prosecuting counsel Conor O' Doherty BL the children had been collected in the van because of a family emergency and were behind a partition in the vehicle.

 

She said they began screaming as the defendant drove off.

The detective said the Abbeylands car park where the events began was covered by CCTV and gardai watching the monitors had seen McDonagh and a woman jump into the van. 

The court heard gardai monitored the van as it made its way along the Dublin road Navan before coming to a halt at the Athlumney bridge junction about two minutes later.

'The female got out and the children were pulled out via a side door and left in the middle of the dual carriageway', said the garda.

The van drove off in the Dublin direction leaving the children behind screaming for help.

The young girl led the boy to safety and attracted the attention of a motorist and a garda who had been on patrol in the area.

McDonagh evaded capture but the van was found abandoned in the Balrath area some hours later and the following week the defendant was arrested.

The young boy's father told the court he thought he was going to collapse when he saw the defendant drive off.

'My heart almost exploded in my chest', he said.

 

He described the time between the theft of his van and being re-united with the children as the longest ten minutes in his life.

 

'It felt like eternity', he said.

 

The man added that the incident had cost him dearly as his van was no longer in a usable state and the insurance company had not paid out as he had left the engine running with the key in the ignition when he went to put money in the parking meter.

 

He also paid tribute to the gardai and the good people in the  community who had helped on the day.

The children's mother told the court both children had been petrified and left traumatised by the incident and had changed dramatically from being happy and outgoing to being fearful.

She said her son suffered recurring nightmares in which he heard the defendant's voice shouting : 'Get out. Get out', while her daughter lived in fear of McDonagh and his accomplice 'coming in the window'.

The court heard McDonagh had 114 previous convictions including 16 for stealing cars.

When questioned by gardai McDonagh apologised for what had happened and said he had not known the children were in the van when he took it.

Defence barrister Pat Purcell BL told the court his client who had a chaotic upbringing had suffered a series of personal tragedies in the past and had a drug problem.

'He puts himself at a high risk of re-offending if he doesn't deal with his drug problem', the lawyer said.

Judge Terry O'Sullivan described the abandonment of the children as "a scandalous act' noting that they had 'knowingly been left in the middle of traffic'.

'Luckily the children were brought to safety - no thanks to the defendant', said the Judge.

Judge O'Sullivan sentenced McDonagh to four and a half years on the endangerment charge with time allowed for time he had spent in custody and the final 12 months suspended and imposed a concurrent term of two years for stealing the van.