Month: February 2010

ADDITIONAL Garda resources re- main in place in Shannon, as an in- vestigation continues into a spate of serious crime in the area in recent weeks.

Six people arrested in connection with criminal activity in the Shan- non area have been released without charge.

A file will be sent to the DPP’s office and a decision will then be taken on whether charges are to be

brought.

The arrests were made at various stages over the past fortnight, after a family was held hostage at Ardkyle, Sixmuilebridge, on January 7. A 50- year-old woman was at home with two of her sons at around 11pm that night when a lone gunman arrived at the house. The man was wearing a balaclava and was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

The woman’s 14-year-old son was threatened, while her nine-year-old son was asleep in a bedroom at the

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The raider left the home after a short period, with two mobile phones and a laptop.

There has been an escalation of se- rious crime in Shannon town in re- cent weeks as six business premises have been robbed at knifepoint since St Stephen’s Day.

A major garda investigation has been launched, leading to the deploy- ment of additional garda resources to SJ erVeveOyee

The latest incident occurred last

Saturday night week, when a man, dressed in black and with his face covered, went into the Excel shop in Drumgeely, and demanded money. He brandished a knife and threat- ened female staff. He got his hands on between €200 and €300 before fleeing on foot shortly after 9pm.

A 24-year-old man was arrested a few hours after the incident. He was later released without charge.

The previous Tuesday, Collins’ shop in Aidan Park was targeted by a man armed with a knife, at around 9pm.

The man, who wore a white scarf over his face, demanded money from the shop assistants, before making off with a few hundred euro in cash. He fled the scene on foot.

The other premises targeted in re- cent weeks were Mace in Ballycasey; Londis in Drumgeely; Londis in Bru na Sionna and the Crossroads off- licence in Drumgeely. In each inci- dent, just small amounts of cash were taken, but staff were deeply trauma- tised by the ordeals they were forced to go through.

A MAN had his eyes gouged and ear bitten in an unprovoked, frenzied at- tack in a housing estate in Shannon, a court heard yesterday.

Arising out of the incident, two young men who pleaded guilty to violent disorder were jailed.

Mark Hayes (21), of Aidan Park, Shannon; Philip Bridges (19), Feen- agh Cross, Sixmilebridge; and Do- minic Hayes (19), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, pleaded guilty arising out of an incident at Rossbracken, Shan- non, on November 14, 2008.

Sergeant Michael O’Connell told Ennis Circuit Court that gardai in Shannon received a call about an in- cident outside a house at 10.30pm on the date 1n question.

He said on arrival there, gardai no- ticed a man was covered in blood. He had sustained cuts to the face, ear and over his eyes and was in severe pain. Another man also had injuries.

A witness told gardai that the vic- tim was assaulted “in a frenzied ner Opelso mae

Sgt O’Connell said the victim was with two others and was on his way home to watch DVDs when he was set upon in what he described as a “totally unprovoked attack on an honourable decent man”.

He said the victim was afraid to go to court to give evidence.

The victim had his eyes gouged and sustained a human bite to his left ear. He suffered multiple injuries to his face and required hospital treatment for some time after the attack.

Sgt O’Connell described Dominic Hayes as the “main aggressor” and said he had put his hands in the vic- tim’s eyes. However, he said the other two defendants were also involved.

The victim has since made a physt- cal recovery, but mentally he was still suffering. His victim impact state- ment was read out to court, in which he said he had always felt safe in his home town Shannon but since the “vicious, violent, savage attack” his confidence had been severely dented. He said it scared him to think what would have happened had the gardai not been called as “they were not go- ing to stop hitting me”.

“That night will forever be etched in my mind,” he stated.

Lorcan Connolly, BL, for Dominic Hayes, said it would be unfair to single out his client as the key player in the at- tack. However, Sgt O’Connell said he was going on the evidence of the wit- nesses who were there at the time.

Mark Nicholas, for Bridges, said al- cohol was a major problem in this in- cident and said his client owned up at an early stage. Pat Whyms, for Mark Hayes, said, “A lot of the evidence places him at the scene but doesn’t do much more than that.”

Judge Carroll Moran jailed Mark Hayes for two years, stating, “He has a bad record of assault.” He noted that he was not the instigator of the incident. He jailed Dominic Hayes for three years, one of which he sus- pended. He adjourned the case of Philip Bridges.

Man hid 37 stolen rings in sock

THE CASE OF a property agent, charged in connection with the mis- appropriation of almost €80,000 in rents, is “complex”, her barrister told a court yesterday.

Fiona Lillis (36), of Lisduff, New- market-on-Fergus, 1s facing 61 charg- es, arising out of a lengthy Garda investigation into missing rents on properties in Shannon and Quin.

She is accused of 49 theft charges and 12 charges of deception, in rela- tion to €76,540, between December 17, 2007 and September 30, 2008.

The charges relate to the owners of Six properties.

She is facing 45 theft charges and four charges of deception in rela- tion to one property owner Richard Dineen, totalling €59,570, relating

to rent and rental deposits for accom- modation at Kincora Apartments, Syetvepeleee

Another six charges – three theft charges and three deception charges – relate to Adrian Kelly, concerning a property at Dun na Manach, Quin. The other six charges relate to Kin- cora Apartments, Shannon.

Defence counsel Elaine Houlihan, BL, told Ennis Circuit Court yester- day that the case was “of some com- toca ae

She said there were at least 50 pag- es of bank account statements in the exhibits and several Excel spread- sheets.

She was granted an application for free legal aid to cover a senior coun- sel and a forensic accountant.

The case was adjourned until later this year.

A YOUNG man who had taken a concoction of 10 valium tablets and seven cans of beer broke into a 61- year-old man’s home and attacked him, a court heard yesterday.

Dominic Hayes (19), of Inis Ealga, Shannon, and Philip Ryan (20), of R1- neanna View, Shannon, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at a house in Shannon on December 18, 2008.

Hayes was jailed for three years, while the case of Ryan was adjourned for compensation to be paid.

Garda David Laing told Ennis Cir- cuit Court that when gardai got to the house at around 1.40am, the owner was lying on the bedroom floor, cov- ered in blood. There was a wooden stick and frame of a child’s bike on the ground beside him. He said the bedroom window had been broken with the frame of a child’s bike.

The man told gardai that he saw the two defendants outside his bedroom window. Hayes broke the window with the bike frame and beat the man with a wooden stick and bedside radio. 400 in cash was also taken from the man’s bedroom. Damage, to the tune of almost €4,000, was caused to the victim’s property that night.

The two defendants were identified as suspects and were arrested a short time later in a nearby estate. Gda La- ing said they had to be given a rest pe- riod to sober up from the alcohol and drugs they had consumed that night.

The court heard that Ryan had told Hayes to leave the man alone, as he had a medical condition.

Both men were described as com- ing from dysfunctional families and both have abused drugs and alcohol. Hayes had 18 previous convictions, while Ryan did not have any.

Hayes’ barrister Lorcan Connolly (pictured below) said his client had consumed 10 valium tablets and seven cans of beer that evening. He described his client as a ‘Jekyl and Hyde’ type of character, who changed dramatically while under the influ- ence. He asked for light at the end of the tunnel for his client.

Ryan’s barrister Elaine Houlihan said this incident was very much out of character for her client and said it was not professionally planned. She said he was easily led. ““There was an element of regrettable opportunism to the crime,” she said. Ms Houlihan said her chent could offer €1,300 in com- pensation. His case was adjourned for further money to be paid over.

Referring to Hayes, Judge Carroll Moran said the evidence was he was the most culpable and said the attack was “gratuitous, unprovoked, out of the blue”.

A MAN WHO imported ‘cowboy guns’ with a view to framing them and putting them over his mantle- piece found himself before a court after he was stopped by customs at Shannon Airport.

Frank Brennan (46), of O’Malley Park, Limerick, pleaded guilty to im- porting two firearms – a 9mm blank calibre Magnum 38 and a 6mm blank calibre Kimar – without a licence and ammunition at Shannon Airport on May 16, 2009.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shan- non District Court on Thursday that the accused was stopped by customs, having returned from a holiday in Majorca.

He said that two revolvers and some ammunition were discovered. The defendant claimed they were for use aS ornaments and he intended on putting them up on the wall. The matter was investigated and the con- clusion was made that there was no ulterior motive.

Defending solicitor Jenny Fitzgib- bon told the court that her client had been returning from a family holl- day.

“There was no effort to conceal what he called ‘cowboy guns’. They were in a duffle bag. He didn’t make any excuses that they were in his pos- session.

‘He had bought them merely as ornamentation. He had intended to frame them and put them over the mantlepiece. He was quite shocked

there was such an incident,’ she Said.

She said her client had not meant any harm by his actions and “merely wanted to bring them back as a sou-

ot baa He also fined Brennan €500.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a three-month jail term, suspended on condition that the accused enter a

bond to keep the peace for two years.

Clare to host speech therapy workshops

Wb Ke Coy edhe B NLOks that plans for the new rescue centre have been approved by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the local coastguard members and will now go forward for planning permis- sion.

OPW officials travelled to Doolin

to present the plans for the centre to coastguard members on January 12 last and it is now believed that a final plan for the centre has been agreed.

Despite this progress it 1s unclear when work may commence on the rescue centre following revelations that money, which had been ring- fenced for the project, no longer ex- TSA

“We have received commitments before in relation to the provision of a permanent home for the coastguard in Doolin and we have been disap- pointed. I hope that this latest news

means that we will finally see the end of years of waiting for the progres- sion of this most necessary project in north Clare,” said Clare TD, Pat SIKU meee

“When fears arose, last month, about the €1.5 million which Minis- ter Dempsey had promised was ring fenced for the project, I raised this matter with him in the Dail and he told me that an application would be lodged shortly for the project.

‘The volunteer coastguards in Doo- lin put their lives on the line every day to save others and the very least

they deserve is to have a permanent facility constructed to cater for their needs. Providing that the application secures the necessary planning per- mission, I hope that no further delays will hold up the construction of his facility.”

Any delay in the progress of the centre could throw plans for the en- tire development into turmoil.

that he’s hopeful that some arrangement can be brokered in the coming days so as to give Kilmurry every advantage ahead of the most important day in Clare club football

Keay

“We would hope that something could be done,’ McDermott said on Monday night. “I know there are rules and regulations there and that if a game is called off it has to be played within seven days, but the fact that we’re in an All-Ireland Final we’d hope that there’d be some ma- noeuvre.

“It’s not that we’re looking for spe- cial treatment, but the fact that there’s a six week break in the Cusack Cup after this weekend, there’d be plenty of time to re-fix the Doonbeg game.

“This week is important for us be- cause it’s all about recovery from Sunday before we started building it up again for the final on March 17. If the county board are determined that the fixture goes ahead, we’ ll fulfill it, but we’d have to put out a weakened team.”

After Sunday’s victory, McDermott told

MICHEAL McDermott is the first to peel away from the biggest rolling maul that the home of rugby has ever seen — it starts underneath the Mick Mackey Stand and moves quickly in the direction of Thomond Park and Seller shee

Mackey wouldn’t have minded — he loved rugby so much he was a mem- ber of the Vigilante Committee so he could go to games. McDermott doesn’t mind either and doesn’t want to break away, but RTE’s cameras are calling, not to mind a posse of hacks who were giving chase — he’s not about to run away on his great- est day.

“Every player ran himself into a stick and that’s what the club is about,’ he says drawing breath. ‘“That’s what our mantra is about. It’s work ethic all the way. There’s tremendous honesty among the play- ers and everyone involved and that’s what wins out at the end of the day.

‘“There’s a hunger about these play- ers to keep winning, winning and

winning. They have such a belief among themselves — they believe that they’re the best in the country. SU cr TMcMmeetomAW: WAN O Olean ecROO PERO OT:IMCME NOLS way they play.

‘This week, the one thing I noticed as against the Munster final was that there was no fear of today. There was no fear or tension that you’d expect coming into an All-Ireland semi-fi- nal. I never saw a team as ready — I said it Tuesday night, I said it Thurs- day night, I said it yesterday. We were confident coming down that we were going to deliver.”

Confidence, adds McDermott, that was nurtured after their quarter-final win over Tir Chonaill Gaels. Yes, Kilmurry won ugly that day in Ruis- lip, but it was the game as much as the win that mattered.

“Nobody realises what an impact that game had on us. We had a fresh- ness coming into today that was vital. Portlaoise had a long lay-off since December 6. We watched the DVD of Kerry v Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final and looked at what Kerry did to Dublin in the

first 23 minutes.

“We said we were going to try and do the same. Like Kerry, we were the fresher team and we took the game to our opponents like they did and that’s when this game was won.

‘And we won because of our dis- cipline too. Football is a game of discipline. We held our discipline; we held it all year long and in every game since coming out of Clare, our opponents have lost a player, some- times more than one.

“It’s sad to see the scenes at the end there when a referee who did a very good job. He made a call on what was a very very dangerous tackle — when that happens you have to walk Ke) as nd

As McDermott speaks, Declan Callinan passes by — the suspended left-half-back has given up to walk off the field and instead is being swept away shoulder high by the roll- ing maul that’s finally turning away from Cratloe Hill and heading back towards Mick Mackey.

‘He played a huge huge part,” says McDermott raising a fisted salute. “For a guy that was suspended he was around the team all the time this week. He didn’t train on Friday night, but yet he drove all the way down from Belfast, just to be part of it.

“That guy is what this club is all about. His life, his soul is Kilmurry Ibrickane. Every sinew that he gives is for the club. He spoke to the play- ers beforehand and broke down in tears, as did a lot of the players and a lot of the management. That’s what it means. Deep down there’s a tremen- dous bond between everyone of these EN uce

“This day is acredited to Declan Callinan. We won it for him because we want to give him a day out in Croke Park that he richly deserves after a long career.”

He’s just one of many who deserves that day in Croke Park.