‘Border Fox’ O’Hare guilty of false imprisonment

On Monday, Dessie O’Hare, 62, of Slate Rock Road, Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh, appeared before the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting one man at Garter Lane, Saggart in Co Dublin on June 9, 2015, and to falsely imprisoning another man in the Rathcoole area of same village on the same date, RTE has reported.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt remanded O’Hare on continuing bail until April 3, when he will be sentenced.

O’Hare was originally arrested at his Co Armagh home in November 2016 in connection with the allegations, and appeared in court in Belfast on a number of occasions as authorities in the Republic sought his extradition.

At one hearing the court was told O’Hare was believed to be the leader of a gang involved in what was described as a “terrifying” incident.

Commenting on O’Hare’s latest conviction, south Armagh victims’ campaigner Willie Frazer said he was “conned” by O’Hare into believing the ex-INLA man had found God – leading to a friendly handshake at a Co Armagh gospel meeting.

“It’s only with recent news that those of us who truly believed he had turned his life around now realise the smoke screen that he had fabricated, masquerading as a Christian and brother in Christ while all the time cosying up to Dublin crime gangs,” Mr Frazer said.