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TWO men have pleaded guilty to assault charges arising from a violent feud related incident in Ennis when a father of 10 lost part of his f nger. Bernie McDonagh Snr (47) suffered multiple injuries including the loss of half of his right ring f nger when he was viciously assaulted by three men at Market place, Ennis on May 18, 2010.

The incident developed after Mr McDonagh drove to Ennis National School to collect his children at 3pm.

He was followed to the school by three men in a black Toyota Avensis. The three men launched an attack on Mr McDonagh’s vehicle.

McDonagh drove furiously away from the front of the school and ended up driving the wrong way into the market area of the town, coming to halt in heavy traff c and very narrow ly avoiding a collision.

Mr McDonagh’s 14-year-old son, f ve-year-old daughter and baby granddaughter were in the car throughout the course of the incident.

The group traveling in the Avensis caught up with Mr McDonagh in the Market where they launched another attack on the car.

Mr McDonagh was driven to Ennis hospital by his 14-year-old son.

One of the perpetrators received a three-year prison sentence at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court in May 2011 after pleading guilty to assault causing serious harm.

The two other men involved in the attack appeared before Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Their respective barristers told the court a jury would not be required and their clients could be put forward for arraignment. Michael McDonagh (34), with an address at Kilcruttin Halting Site, Kilcruttin, Tullamore, Co Offaly, pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Bernie McDonagh at market place Ennis on May 18, 2010.

Anthony McDonagh (28), with an address at Ardreigh Walk, Dun Brinn, Athy, Kildare, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Bernie McDonagh on the same date and location. Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan said those pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the case now becomes a matter for sentence.

Counsel for Michael McDonagh, Mark Nicholas said his client is a 34-year-old man with no previous convictions who “stupidly got involved” in this incident.

He said a report from the Probation Services would be help Judge Gerald Keys get a proper prof le of Mr Mc Donagh prior to sentencing.

Counsel for Anthony McDonagh, Pat Whyms, also requested a probation report for his client.

Judge Keys ordered probation reports for both accused and remanded them on bail to appear in court on January 12, 2015 when a date for sentencing will be f xed.

AN ELECTRICIAN has pleaded guilty to theft offences arising from the unauthorised use of a bank card for online gambling.

Killian Torpey (26) used a bankcard belonging to his girlfriend’s mother for a series of online transactions in 2012.

At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday, Mr Torpey, with an address at Mahonburg, Inch, pleaded guilty to 15 sample counts of theft between June 14, 2012, and November 22, 2012.

He admitted stealing various cash amounts totalling € 1,900 from Mary McNamara at a place unknown within the State. Mr Torpey was originally charged with 155 counts of theft of cash amounts totalling € 23,474.

In court, prosecuting counsel, Stephen Coughlan told the court the pleas of guilty to the sample counts were acceptable to the DPP on a “full facts basis”. Counsel said the sen- tencing hearing would be lengthy as the facts of the case would take some time to hear.

Defence counsel Lorcan Connolly said considerable admissions will be made and maybe a “global approach” could be adopted at the sentencing hearing.

Mr Connolly added, “the offences in this case in essence relate to the unauthorised use of a bank card for online betting and the injured party is the mother of Mr Torpey’s girlfriend”. The court heard Mr Torpey is a qualif ed electrician with no pre vious convictions. Counsel said he would be calling his client’s employer to give evidence but said this person was currently in America. He said he understood Ms McNamara is also out of the country. “It’s somewhat of an unusual case, as you have may have gathered so far Judge,” Mr Connolly added. Judge Gerald Keys adjourned the case to November 18 when a date for sentencing will be f xed. Mr Torpey was remanded on continuing bail.

A 25 YEAR-old Clare man who sexually assaulted a 12 year-old girl in as she slept in bed has been told he is “extremely fortunate” not to be going to prison.

The man received a two year suspended sentence at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Friday after previously pleading guilty to sexually assaulting the girl at the home of his former partner’s house in west Clare in February 2012.

Details of the assault were heard at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court in June. The 12-year-old victim stayed in the house on the night in question to baby-sit the woman’s young child. The man and the woman were in the house drinking.

Garda Suzanne McHale told the court the accused and the woman were staying in one bedroom and the victim and the child were asleep in another bedroom.

The court heard the accused got up that night to go the toilet. Garda McHale said that when he came back he entered the complainant’s room and got into bed beside her. Garda McHale said the victim said the man asked if he could “shift her”.

She said the girl said the man started kissing her and put his hands on her body.

Garda McHale said the man left the room after the girl persistently asked him to leave. The court heard the man had consumed a lot of alcohol on the night.

He later told gardaí that he thought he was going back to the room he had been sleeping in. He said he realised he was in the wrong bed when he started kissing the girl.

Defence Counsel Isobel Kennedy (SC) said the two adults in the house had consumed a large amount of alcohol on the night.

She said the room in which the victim had been sleeping in on the night was the one her client and his then partner ordinarily slept in.

Sentencing was adjourned to last week when a victim impact report was handed into the court.

The victim, who was not in court, stated she had “self-harmed” since the incident and attempted suicide. The court heard she felt “vulnerable” around men and was unable to attend school for a period.

Passing sentence, Judge Keys said, “Sexual assault is a very serious offence and can leave a person seriously scarred”.

Judge Keys said the mitigating factors in the case were the accused’s early plea, which was a relief to the victim, and his lack of previous convictions. He also noted there is no risk, or any evidence, to suggest the man will re-offend. Judge Keys said that had the matter gone to trial a jury could have found the man made a genuine mistake.

Imposing a two year suspended sentence, Judge Keys said the circumstances in this case were particularly “unusual”.

“I accept you are deeply ashamed of what happened”, he added. Addressing the accused, the Judge said, “You can regard yourself as an extremely fortunate person to be not going to jail”.

A YOUNG woman was left shaken after she was allegedly ‘groped’ while out walking in Ennis on Friday night. The woman and her friend were walking near St Flannan’s College when a man jumped from behind a wall and grabbed the woman.

A passer-by witnessed the incident and came to the aid of the woman who is from Ennis. The suspected offender, who is in his early 20s, f ed through the grounds of St Flannan’s.

The woman, a mother of two, returned home and reported the incident to gardaí. She was able to give a detailed description of the man to gardaí.

A person matching the suspect’s description was observed by gardaí in Ennis within hours of the incident. He was detained for a brief period but later released without charge. Investigations into the matter are ongoing.

The woman left her house at around 8.45pm on Friday. She and a friend were walking on the Limerick Road, near the West County Hotel.

They were going in the direction of the town centre when they became aware of man wearing a dark camouf age hoodie walking closely behind them.

The women stopped and noticed the man. They decided to cross the road to Michael Lynch’s Joinery before crossing back to the Flannan’s side of the road.

The young man followed the same route but turned at Flannan’s and started to walk towards Ennis. The two women had passed the college’s main entrance and were just passing another narrow entrance to the school when the youth re-appeared.

It is alleged he jumped a wall and suddenly grabbed the woman. The shocked victim and her friend turned on the man who f ed through the grounds of the school. The young mother was left shaken and upset by the incident.

A JUDGE is considering imposing a two-year prison term on a woman for what he called a “vicious assault on a completely innocent person”.

The 20-year-old woman pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on Friday to robbery of a handbag and items with a total value of € 1780 from a woman on O’Connell Street, Ennis on September 2, 2014.

After hearing details of the drink fuelled robbery where the female victim was punched, kicked and pulled to the ground, Judge Gerald Keys said he had in mind a two-year prison sentence.

“This type of carry on has to stop”, the Judge said.

Judge Keys also noted the victim was too intimidated to come to court.

Garda Darren Lynch told the court gardaí met the female victim in a “quite distressed state” after responding to reports of a robbery outside the Old Ground Hotel at around 11.50pm on the night in question.

He said swelling was visible on the woman’s face.

The court heard the victim was walking on O’Connell Street when she noticed someone walking behind her.

As the woman neared the entrance of the hotel, her attacker ran in front of her and asked her for a cigarette.

The woman said she did not smoke and at this point the accused made an attempt to cover her face. Garda Lynch said at this point, the victim became afraid.

He told the court the accused then punched the woman twice, knocking her to the ground.

After attempting to grab the woman’s bag, the accused then kicked her a number of times.

“At that moment she described herself as screaming for help”, Garda Lynch said.

Asked if the woman had been informed of her right to make a victim impact statement, Garda Lynch said she had.

However Garda Lynch said the woman has not been herself since the attack.

He said the victim was afraid to come to court because she knows her attacker.

“She would feel intimidated by coming here,, he added.

The attack was witnessed by a taxi driver.

“He witnessed the attack and the ferociousness of the attack”, Garda Lynch said.

The accused was arrested half a mile away approximately 70 minutes after the robbery.

The accused also discarded the handbag on O’Connell Street and all items were recovered.

The accused was arrested and told gardaí she consumed a f agon of ci der, two bottles of wine and a few cans prior to the robbery.

However Garda Lynch said the woman later minimised the amount she had drunk.

He agreed with Prosecuting Counsel Stephen Coughlan’s view the attack was the product of the accused’s “bad temper and the consumption of liquor”.

Defence Counsel Pat Whyms said his client is “very sorry for what she did”.

Judge Keys said, “I regard this as a vicious assault on a completely innocent person”.

He said he had in mind a two-year sentence. However Judge Keys adjourned f nal sentencing after requesting further clarif cation of issues raised by the defence in relation to the personal circumstances of the accused.

The woman was remanded in custody to appear again in court on November 7.

the onset of winter.

It is unclear if the dolphin was alive when it was initially washed ashore at Fanore, but the body was badly damaged when it was discover by a member of the public on Monday.

“It looks like a striped dolphin, a species that is frequently stranded, often alive, but rarely observed in Irish waters. They are an offshore pelagic species occurring in deep water,” said Simon Berrow of the Clare based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

“They typically occur in warmer waters than Ireland and the increase in stranding records could be due to a warming of our waters associated with climate change.”

The IWDG co-ordinate the cetacean stranding scheme in Ireland and ask that all sightings of stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises are reported to them by email on strandings@iwdg.e or online on www. iwdg.ie.

The group have a network of recorders who visit stranded animals to record species, length and gender for long term monitoring.

A 25-YEAR-old woman has rejected a Judge’s offer to cut her prison sentence by seven months.

At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Gerald Keys said he was willing not to extend Bernadette Marrinan’s time in prison beyond January 2015, when the term of a prison sentence she received from the district court is due to expire.

Ms Marrinan, with a former address at Flat 3, Francis Street, Kilrush, was before the circuit court having pleaded guilty last month to possession of a 13-inch lump ham- mer at Hermitage, Ennis on March 14, 2014.

Judge Keys proposed a 10 month sentence with the f nal seven months suspended after saying the offence could have been dealt with in the district court had the facts been fully outlined to the district court Judge.

He said the balance of the sentence would be suspended on condition Ms Marrinan enter into a bond to be of good behaviour and commit to working with the Probation Services to deal with her drug addiction.

“I don’t agree”, Ms Marrinan replied after hearing the Judge’s offer. Ms Marrinan held a brief consultation with her legal team after which defence counsel, Pat Whyms, told the court his client did not want to enter into the bond.

“I really cannot understand why not, but that is her choice”, Judge Keys said.

Imposing a full 10-month sentence, the Judge said;

“If she has a change of mind I’m open to being persuaded to suspend the balance of the sentence”.

In the case, Garda Trevor Shannon of Ennis Garda Station said he and a colleague were on patrol when they met Ms Marrinan in Hermitage at around 4.50pm on March 14.

He said it was noticeable the accused was concealing an item. When gardaí asked her to produce the concealed item, Ms Marrinan took out the lump hammer.

Garda Shannon said Ms Marrinan told gardaí she had the weapon for her own protection.

Asked to outline the accused’s circumstances, Garda Shannon said Ms Marrinan had a “hard enough upbringing”, was homeless for a period and had developed an addiction to heroin.

She is currently serving a ninemonth sentence for theft imposed at Ennis District Court in June. Ms Marrinan has previous convictions for theft and criminal damage.

Garda Shannon said the thefts were mainly committed for food and to feed Ms Marrinan’s addiction.

After being told the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had recommended the case be dealt with in the district court, Judge Keys asked why jurisdiction had been refused by the district Judge.

Garda Shannon said the district court judge has an issue with weapons offences and believes they should be dealt with in the circuit court.

Judge Keys said that if the circumstances were fully outlined to the Judge, he would have accepted jurisdiction.

He imposed a 10-month sentence after Ms Marrinan rejected the offer to suspend seven months.

THERE were unruly scenes at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin last week after Michael Maughan of Stone Court, Ennis, was convicted of murdering Piotr Nowakowski (peter nova kovskee) in Ennis last year.

Supporters of the accused man shouted abuse at the jury and overturned a bench in the court room.

It took the jury under 2 and a half hours to unanimously convict Michael Maughan (40) of the murder of Piotr Nowakowski at Sandf eld Mews in Ennis in July last year.

He had admitted manslaughter. The jury heard he stabbed the Polish man twice after they’d spent the day and night drinking together.

In a victim impact statement relatives said his loss is like ‘a big sadness taking our soul’.

Maughan’s lawyers offered his apologies and said he really regrets what he’s done. Justice Paul Carney imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder and the court rose.

After that there was uproar as a couple of Michael Maughan’s supporters overturned a bench and hurled verbal abuse at the jury before gardaí intervened to restore order.

Michael Maughan, had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Piotr Nowakowski, aged 31, at Sandf eld Mews, Ennis, on July 23, 2013.

The Central Criminal Court was told that the manslaughter plea was not acceptable to the prosecution and a jury was sworn in for the one-week trial. Maughan had also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Declan O’Dea at the same address on the same date. The jury of seven men and f ve women found him guilty on both counts by unanimous decision after two hours and 23 minutes.

Mr Justice Paul Carney handed down the mandatory life sentence for the murder to run concurrently with four years for the assault. He backdated both sentences to July 24, 2013, for time spent in custody.

Mr Nowakowski was stabbed twice and died in an ambulance on the way to Shannon Airport, from where he was to be airlifted to hospital in Cork. The court heard that Maughan and his brother had been drinking with the men in the apartment in the Sandf eld complex earlier that day and returned there that night.

He told gardaí he was angry when he was not allowed in.

He said he lifted his brother in through a window so he could let him in the front door.

Maughan told gardaí that he went into the bedroom where Mr O’Dea and Mr Nowakowski were asleep.

After Mr Nowakowski followed him into to the kitchen, he got paranoid and grabbed a carving knife from the counter.

He told gardaí he “just went berserk” and he stabbed him twice in the side. The court heard the deceased received several blows and was stabbed before receiving a further kick to the head.

THE development of parking facilities at the Cliffs of Moher is still a live project according to Clare County Council, despite delays in gaining planning permission.

The world famous tourist attractions was granted more than half a million euro earlier this year to upgrade facilities in the coach and public parking facility at the cliffs. An application for planning permission for the works was lodged in March with a decision due on May 19 – but no decision has yet been announced.

This planning application is complicated by the original planning permission granted for the construction of the Cliffs of Moher Experience in 2007. Under the 2007 permission granted by Bord Pleanála, the public car park was to be a temporary facility, pending the development of a park and ride facility from Liscannor or Doolin – however, no park and ride has ever been developed.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council yesterday said that the application represented a “tidy up” of the temporary car park, rather than the development of a permanent facility.

“The Part VIII [planning permission] process is very much alive. Observations received from the NPWS required some further assessment work to be undertaken as the site is beside a Special Protection Area for certain species of bird. A specialised environmental consultant is preparing the further detailed data that is required,” said a spokesperson.

“The overall proposal for Part VIII is primarily a ‘tidy up’ of the car park to improve its presentation. Its proximity to an EU designated site requires the detailed analysis which encompasses the potential in combination effects of the recent development of the Cliffs Coastal Walk.”

The cliffs, which attracted in excess of 1 million visitors to Clare last year, has been operating using a gravel public car park for more than seven years now.

A grant of € 550,000 was made available to the facility earlier this year for the development of both the coach car park and the public car park as well the development of a new exhibition in the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience.

CLARE suicide prevention charity, the William Winder Rainbow Foundation, will be forced to close in the coming weeks if urgent funding cannot be found.

The charity, which has provided more than 700 hours of free counselling to vulnerable Clare people over the past two years, is appealing to the people of Clare to get behind the service and help save the organisation.

The charity currently spend roughly € 1,000 a month on counselling hours – all of which must be raised from local fundraising. The foundation was set up by Mark and Caroline Winder in memory of their son William who took his own life in 2012.

According to Mark, suicide is a bigger issue in Clare than anywhere else in Ireland and the demand for counsellor hours is great.

“We need Clare to get behind us. We can only go far but beyond that we need the community to get behind us. This is need in Clare more then anywhere in Ireland. The death toll [from suicide] here is higher than anywhere,” he said.

“To put it plain and simple, if we can’t get the public behind us there is only one way that the foundation will go, and that is to close down. It’s been two years since our son died and we are breaking our backs. The community has been fantastic; we know everyone is on hard times, we’re on hard times ourselves. But we’re talking about people not buying a pint or not buying a packet of fags – that’s saving a life. The public have been fantastic, they really have, but we can’t do this by ourselves anymore. We need the support of the Clare people.

“We can’t colour it up any more than that. We’re looking at what’s coming in and what’s going out and it doesn’t match. I’m not a millionaire, I’m not earning the money to fund this ourselves, I wish I was.”

Despite the huge demand for its counselling service, the William Winder Rainbow Foundation currently operates without any government or HSE funding.

“Without a shadow of a doubt this service is needed in Clare. There are people out there who have no other options. We have not received any government support so far. So I’m basically calling around to companies asking is there any chance for a donation. I’m on the road doing that,” he said. To f nd out more or to make a do nation visit www.williamwinderrainbowfoundation.ie.