This article is from page 3 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
TENSIONS within an Ennis Travel- ler family have escalated since one brother killed another last year.
The revelation emerged during the sentencing hearing of Patrick Mc- Donagh for the manslaughter of his brother, Charlie, in January 2007.
After hearing prosecution and de- fence submissions at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Carney adjourned sentencing until this (Tuesday) morning and re- manded the accused in custody over-
night.
McDonagh’s | barrister, Brendan Nix, SC, said his client’s family has ostracised him since the incident.
Sergeant Darragh O’Sullivan told the court yesterday that “there were numerous allegations of incidents on both sides”.
However, Mr Nix replied to this, “On both sides? I suggest not.”
He said that the windows on his client’s caravan, which has been lo- cated on the Bishop’s grounds in En- nis for several months, “were put 1n” Ais CO)M nents glare
Caroline Biggs, BL for the Prosecu- tion, told the court that the DPP takes the view that this case came “at the higher end of manslaughter”’.
The accused’s wife Donna — who is pregnant with the couple’s fifth child — told the court she and her husband “deeply regret the death of Charlie and miss him very much”.
“Patrick used to love Charlie to come down to the house,” she said. ‘Patrick is the best husband there 1s. He does everything for me and the kids. His kids are his life, his prior- ity,’ she sobbed.
Psychiatrist Dr John O’Mahony said the accused suffers from post- traumatic stress disorder and depres- sion and is currently on the maxi- mum dose of anti-depressants.
He said he would have “grave con- cerns” about the availability of such treatment in “an average prison” in Ireland. “There is no forensic psy- chiatric service outside the Pale,’ he said.
Asked did McDonagh have remorse for killing his brother, Dr O’Mahony said, “I have no doubt. He sees my- self and a psychologist and a recur-
rent theme is he would do anything he could to bring his brother back. He has frequently expressed a death wish, if he could be dead and his brother alive.”
Mr Nix read out a letter from the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, who referred to the incident as a “dreadful family tragedy”.
Mr Nix said, “People set out to have a few drinks and enjoy each other’s company. Nobody went out that night to cause any insult or injury to any- body. Tempers certainly got the best of everybody.”