TWO West Belfast men have been sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for assaulting a man and threatening to subject him to a paramilitary-style attack in an attempt to persuade him to give information on local drug dealers.
Robert O’Neill (42) from Belfast and Daniel McClean (52) from Dunmurry pleaded guilty earlier this month during a non-jury trial to collecting information useful to terrorists and common assault on February 6, 2014.
They were arrested by detectives from the PSNI’s Terrorism Investigation Unit under the Terrorism Act on June 24, 2014, following searches in the West Belfast and Dunmurry areas in relation to an investigation into paramilitary-style attacks.
On Tuesday, Mr O’Neill was handed a sentence of two years and eight months. Due to time spent on remand, he will not be returned to prison. Mr McClean received a two-year sentences, suspended for three years. Both men are subject to a 10-year notification order.
Detective Inspector David Lowans, from PSNI’s Terrorism Investigation Unit, said: “Mr O’Neill and Mr McClean were arrested as part of an operation during which evidence was gathered that they assaulted a man in an attempt to intimidate him into divulging the names and addresses of people dealing drugs in the area, as well as what types of drugs.
“They hit him and made a number of threats to ‘blow off his legs with a shotgun’ if he did not provide this information or if he told any lies. They also told him they had a shotgun. At one point Mr McClean warned that he would ‘take his legs off tonight and that he wouldn’t think twice about putting him in a body bag or an open or a closed coffin’, while Mr O’Neill threatened that the victim was ‘a hair trigger from getting your legs amputated clean off’.”
Detective Inspector David Lowans added: “There is no place in modern society for this violence and threats of violence. Paramilitary-style attacks don’t work, they are barbaric and despite claims from the groups responsible that they are protecting their communities, they are only ever about people cementing their own status and control over their communities.
“We will continue in our efforts to disrupt terrorism and the activities of anyone involved in it so that our communities can continue to thrive, prosper and live in peace.”
