A convicted rapist and killer who attacked a mother and son in their Cork home with a claw-hammer, turning it into a “blood-bath”, has had his jail time increased by nearly three years by the Court of Appeal.
In June of last year, Ian Horgan was jailed for eight and a half years for the hammer attack on a then 29-year-old man, who required brain surgery for his injuries, and his 66-year-old mother at their home on the afternoon of March 26th 2022.
At the Court of Appeal sitting in Cork on Wednesday, phone videos of the scene, filmed by Horgan, were played to the three sitting judges showing the immediate aftermath of the attack, as well as a video of Horgan later sitting in a park as the Bill Withers song ‘Lovely Day’ plays in the background.
One of the videos played for the court showed victim Hassan Baker, his face covered in blood, sitting on the ground in a semi-conscious state while Horgan shouted at him ‘where’s the money’ in a false Dublin accent.
After the court viewed the video evidence, Mr Baker's mother said from the gallery: "He left him for dead". She then left the courtroom.
Horgan, formerly of The Hermitage, Macroom, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to the offences at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on January 30th 2023, and was sentenced by Judge Helen Boyle to nine years with the final six months suspended for the attack on Mr Baker and to a concurrent three years with the final six suspended for the attack on his mother, Mary O’Callaghan.
The attack occurred at around 4pm on March 26th 2022, at McCurtain Villas, College Street, Cork, which Ms O’Callaghan described in her victim impact statement as a “blood-bath”.
Sentence
At the Court of Appeal, president Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court would allow the application of undue leniency made by the State and increased Horgan’s jail sentence from eight-and-a-half years to 11 years and three months with no portion suspended for the assault causing serious harm on Mr Baker.
The court did not intervene with the assault causing harm sentence relating to Ms O’Callaghan.
When passing judgement, Mr Justice Birmingham said Horgan (40) had a “lengthy history of violence” and had convictions for rape, manslaughter, robbery, violent disorder, affray, possession of drugs for sale or supply and for the production of an article during the course of a dispute.
Mr Justice Birmingham said that on the day of the attack, Horgan left his home in Macroom to travel to Cork City by bus.
Horgan travelled with a shopping bag that contained a hammer and a change of footwear and clothing.
CCTV footage
CCTV had captured Horgan in the area of McCurtain Villas going into a shed and emerging in different clothes and footwear, wearing a hoodie and a snood.
After the attack, said Mr Justice Birmingham, Horgan then sent mocking texts about Mr Baker to his then partner, who had previously been in a relationship with the injured man.
Horgan then went to Fitzgerald’s Park and sent videos of the seriously injured Mr Baker to his girlfriend.
Horgan told his then girlfriend that his knuckles were ‘f***ed’ again” and that he was washing blood off himself, as the song ‘Lovely Day’ played over the video.
Horgan also texted his girlfriend that afternoon saying: “I destroyed him. He won’t be acting the hard man, let me tell you. He is a cheeky c***. LOL.”
In increasing the sentence for the assault causing serious harm today, Mr Justice Birmingham said Horgan had knocked on the door of the dwelling and pushed his way past Ms O’Callaghan and attacked Mr Baker on the left shoulder with the hammer.
Horgan then continued his attack on Mr Baker, choking his victim for 20-30 seconds, before again attacking him with the hammer, causing depressed skull, eye-socket and cheek fractures.
Mr Justice Birmingham said that Ms O’Callaghan tried to intervene to help her son, but Horgan broke her wrist when she did so.
Mr Justice Birmingham said Horgan, “in a ruse”, was demanding money by shouting at Mr Baker “when pretending that the attack was over a drug debt to distract attention away from himself".
Horgan recorded his victims in a “seriously injured and extremely distressed state” before leaving the house, said the judge.
Horgan then sent a message to his then girlfriend reading ‘Don’t worry, made it look like I was a Dub', said Mr Justice Birmingham.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the DPP submitted that the headline sentence of 12 years was too low and that the headline sentence should have been at the top of the 10-15-year range.
The judge said that lawyers for Horgan submitted that the sentence was within the trial judge’s discretion and had not been a “substantial departure” from the appropriate sentence and therefore was not unduly lenient.
Mr Justice Birmingham said there was “very real seriousness, exceptional seriousness” in the offending that had a “degree of preparation and pre-planning that included forceful entry into a constitutionally-protected dwelling”.
Extreme violence
In quashing the original sentence and proceeding to re-sentencing Horgan, the judge said there had been “extreme violence towards Mr Baker” and that the video recording “added insult” to an attack that involved a potentially lethal weapon.
“The appropriate figure for a headline sentence is 15 years. Giving a 25 per cent discount for the guilty plea leaves eleven-and-a-quarter years to serve… and it is one we are imposing here. We see no scope for any part of it to be suspended to encourage rehabilitation,” said Mr Justice Birmingham.
Horgan was 16 when he raped and strangled 22-year-old Cork woman Rachel Kiely and, almost exactly 18 years ago, was jailed for seven and a half years by Mr Justice Barry White.
Horgan had admitted manslaughter but denied murder and rape charges.
At a first trial in 2002, Horgan was convicted of rape and murder but those convictions were set aside by the Court of Criminal Appeal, which ordered a retrial. At a 2006 trial, a jury at the Central Criminal Court found him not guilty of murder but guilty of the rape and manslaughter of Rachel Kiely while she was out walking the family dogs in a park near her Ballincollig home.
