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Man beaten in front of his kids by dissident republicans is jailed on 14 drug charges

Victim of brutal dissident punishment beating jailed on 14 drug charges

Today at 10:40

A man beaten in front of his children by republican vigilantes has been convicted of drug dealing.

Gerard Lavy was dragged from his Derry home in 2015 by a suspected New IRA gang and battered with iron bars.

His young son and daughter witnessed the attack which left their father in hospital with a broken leg and a broken arm.

Following this, Lavy told the media he did not take drugs but was addicted to prescription medication.

However, three months after the so-called punishment attack, he pleaded guilty to possessing the class A drug fentanyl and small quantities of herbal cannabis and diazepam.

A court was told the drugs were found following a police search of his home in October 2013.

Lavy (39) was back before a court this week when he was convicted of 14 drug-related offences, including offering to supply class A and class C drugs.

The majority of the offences, which took place between July 2021 and November 2022, related to the possession of drugs.

Lavy, who is already in Magilligan jail in relation to a previous conviction, was jailed at Derry Crown Court for two years for the latest drug offences.

He will spend six months of the sentence behind bars but will be released on licence for the remaining 18 months.

The court also ordered that the latest drugs found in Lavy’s possession be destroyed, while £361 discovered with the drugs is to be given to the Foyle Family Justice Centre in Derry.

In an interview with the BBC after the attack at his home in March 2015, Lavy said his children clung to him as he was being beaten by up to six men.

Hours afterwards, a wheelie bin was set alight next to the house but the blaze was put out. The PSNI said they considered both incidents to be linked.

“Any other night I would normally lock the door and put the keys out of reach so nobody could break the glass,” said Lavy.

“But the wee’uns [children] didn’t lock the door and the next thing we heard was footsteps coming up the stairs and I just knew then that’s what it was.

“They were dragging me down the stairs into the garden and started battering me with iron bars. Just before, my wee girl clung onto me when she seen them and they just pulled her off me.”

Lavy said he feared for the safety of his daughter (9) and his five-year-old son.

“It’s terrible, I don’t think they should have had to witness anything at all.

“They were squealing. I was lying on the garden and they were just welting into me with iron bars with nails in them.

“While I was in the front garden getting battered they [the gang] were smashing up the house. One of them said that’s enough, but the last boy out had to hit me five or six more slaps and then they ran off down the street.”

In the BBC interview, Lavy called those behind the attack “cowards”.

“They were shouting about coke but I don’t take any sort of drugs. I’m addicted to prescribed medication and that’s it. I don’t bother anybody, I just keep myself to myself.

“Cowards. They had to all come in masks and iron bars and it took five or six of them.”

In June 2015, shortly after he was attacked at his home, Lavy was jailed for three months for drugs offences.

The court was told he had to leave Derry following the attack a few months earlier.

The court was also told Lavy had 64 previous convictions, 11 of which were for drugs offences.

He was back before the courts again on drug-related charges in October 2020.

A defence solicitor told the court Lavy claimed to have a drug addiction which was costing him £1,400 a month.