Four men have been jailed for a combined total of 53 years for their roles in a €2m tiger kidnapping that involved holding a family hostage overnight.
Marie Richardson and her two young sons were threatened at gunpoint and taken from their Dublin home in March 2005.
Security worker Paul Richardson was then forced to hand over the money during his rounds the following day to secure their release.
In May, Dubliners Mark Farrelly (47), Christopher Corcoran (71), David Byrne (45) and Niall Byrne (36) were convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury.
The sentences handed down today ranged from seven years to seventeen and a half.
Speaking outside court afterwards, Paul and Marie said they were thrilled their 13-year ordeal has finally come to an end, describing the sentences as “good”.
Paul Richardson read his victim impact statement during a sentence hearing last Monday. He described the crime as “heinous and inhumane” and said it was committed for “one reason only, greed”.
He said he spent his 60th birthday in court, having just given his sworn testimony for the fifth time. He said he could not leave the court after giving his evidence because he promised his family “I would keep going until justice prevailed”.
“I lost a part of my life that night and I will never get it back,” Mr Richardson said before he added that the most important thing in life was “family and love”.
He said he and his family were terrorised and instead of being “in our home safe and warm” his wife and children were brought out “in the darkest of night and held against their will”.
Mr Richardson said the raiders had “no regard for the damage they caused” and said they never contacted him by walkie-talkie, as they had promised, to tell him his family were safe.
