{"id":367089,"date":"2026-03-27T00:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/367089\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T00:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:29:09","slug":"senator-forgives-man-jailed-for-threatening-to-kill-him-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/367089\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator forgives man jailed for threatening to kill him \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent Senator and founder of the Tiglin charity Aubrey McCarthy<\/a> has spoken of how \u201cdirect and credible\u201d death threats made against him and his colleagues caused them considerable fear and affected their work. <\/p>\n

Brian McCann (40), with an address at 50 Georgian Hamlet, Baldoyle, Co Dublin<\/a>, was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to McCarthy and a senior colleague, and also to harassment.<\/p>\n

At a sitting of Wicklow<\/a> Circuit Court<\/a>, Judge Patrick Quinn suspended the final 3\u00bd years on condition McCann attend all medical appointments and receive all treatments for serious mental health and addiction issues.<\/p>\n

McCann was a former resident of Tiglin, which provides residential rehabilitation for addiction, homelessness and social exclusion. <\/p>\n

The court heard that in February 2022, McCann verbally made a threat that he would kill or cause serious harm to McCarthy at the Tiglin centre in Ashford. On the same date, he made a similar threat to Philip Thompson, the chief executive of the charity. <\/p>\n

He had earlier harassed McCarthy by posting threatening comments on the charity\u2019s social media pages over a period of time. <\/p>\n

An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na considered the threats to be serious enough to warrant its involvement. <\/p>\n

McCann\u2019s history of mental illness and addiction were outlined during the sentencing hearing. <\/p>\n

In a victim impact statement, McCarthy said he forgave McCann despite the threats he had made, but indicated the convicted man\u2019s troubled history did not excuse his actions. <\/p>\n

McCarthy said that as the founder of a charity he had always expected some voices would oppose his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I never expected the fear and disruption that came when the threats became personal, direct and credible, not just to me, but to my staff, my colleagues and those who serve beside me in hope and purpose. <\/p>\n

\u201cNumerous threats were received on social media, but it was only when my secretary received a phone call that frightened the wits out of her, that I contacted the garda\u00ed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said garda\u00ed confirmed that the threats from McCann were not idle words. \u201cThey were real, serious and required urgent response. I had no choice but to make a formal statement. Not for myself alone, but for the people who work long hours, often in thankless roles, to bring dignity and support to others. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese threats did not just rattle a few nerves. They struck at the heart of our work. They shook our sense of security. They cast a long shadow over our daily lives, moments of looking over shoulders, checking doors twice, and wondering if we were safe simply doing our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said despite this fear, he understood McCann was struggling with significant mental health and addiction issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t excuse the actions, but it does add important context. As a society, I believe that we need to do more not just in crisis, but long before people reach breaking point. Our mental health system must be stronger, more compassionate, and far more accessible,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI have chosen to forgive the individual behind these threats. Not because it was easy, and not because what happened didn\u2019t matter, but because I believe in the redemptive power of compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he held no bitterness towards McCann. \u201cI choose to forgive. And I genuinely hope he receives the help and care he needs to find healing and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent Senator and founder of the Tiglin charity Aubrey McCarthy has spoken of how \u201cdirect and credible\u201d death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74909,13553,61,60,410,43,7469],"class_list":["post-367089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aubrey-mccarthy","tag-circuit-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-wicklow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}