The Clare People Archive

SHANNON Airport continues its remarkable rise from the ashes with an unprecedented 30 per cent increase in passenger numbers last month.

New passengers number released yesterday show a year-on-year increase of more than 28 per cent, compared to October of 2013. This represents the largest percentage increase ever recorded in Shannon and comes on the back of consistent growth since the airport gained independent from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

Having been on the verge on being passed out by Knock Airport, and downgraded to Ireland’s fourth choice airport just 20 months ago, Shannon Airport looks set to overtake Cork Airport and reclaim the title of Ireland second airport.

The biggest increase in passengers coming through Shannon came from its European services, which were up an incredible 111 per cent per cent when compared to the same month in 2013.

A total of 42,950 European passengers used Shannon Airport last month – more than double the 20,347 who used the airport in October of 2013.

Transatlantic passengers were up by 15 per cent, from 23,511 in October 2013 to 27,108 last month, thanks in the main to the increased frequency across New York and Boston services.

Shannon’s biggest market, the UK, also grew by 6 per cent last month from 61,681 to 65,243.

“It’s been a really great summer season for Shannon and f nished out with a very strong October. A very encouraging aspect to the growth is that there were gains across our three main markets, Europe, the UK and US,” said airport CEO Neil Pakey.

“Increases in European services are particularly strong thanks to the nine new services this summer season but the US also performed very well as a result of greater frequencies. It was also heartening to see growth on UK services as this is the strongest market for Ireland and a 6 per cent growth month-over-month is quite signif cant. “We have new winter services this year to Berlin, Bristol, Fuerteventura, Krakow, Paris and Warsaw. These, together with our other winter services, provide a really strong array of destinations for weekend or winter sun breaks as well as for business travellers.

“It’s good news also for the region as our winter schedule this year has really good options from an inbound perspective, which is particularly good for tourism operators here as there is a really good winter break offering across the West of Ireland.”

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 STUDENT with a “dreadful” criminal record has avoided jail for driving offences committed in Ennis last year. Chris Kelly appeared in Ennis District Court on Wednesday for sentencing for motoring offences committed at Cahercallamore, Ennis on April 23, 2014.

In December 2013, Mr Kelly, with an address at Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick was convicted after a contested hearing at Ennis District Court of having no insurance, no driver’s license and no NCT certif cate.

The court heard he was disqualif ed from driving for 15 years at the time of the commission of the offence. Mr Kelly, a father of one, has eight previous convictions for no insurance and two for dangerous driving. He also has previous convictions for theft offences, the court heard.

Mr Kelly appeared back in court in September when Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court the accused had a “dreadful record”.

Judge Patrick Durcan further adjourned sentencing to November 5 after requesting a detailed report on Mr Kelly’s academic progress at the University of Limerick. He also sought clarif cation on the accused’s previous convictions.

On Wednesday, defence solicitor Tara Godfrey said she had a letter from the welfare off cer at UL, say ing “very good things” about her client. Ms Godfrey told the court her client maintains his innocence with respect to the Ennis convictions.

She said Mr Kelly has not resiled from his original position that he was not the person in the car when it was stopped by the gardaí.

She said Mr Kelly would have appealed the conviction in the circuit court but the matter had not yet been f nalised in the district court. “He would be of the opinion he’s an innocent man and was going to pursue that to the Nth degree”, Ms Godfrey added. In relation to Mr Kelly’s previous convictions, Ms Godfrey said her client is a young man of tremendous promise who squandered most of his youth. Judge Patrick Durcan imposed a f ne of € 350 on Mr Kelly for having no driver’s license. He imposed a further f ne of € 1000 in respect of the conviction for no insurance. Mr Kelly was also disqualif ed from holding a driver’s license for 10 years. Judge Durcan said he was not imposing a custodial sentence in light of Mr Kelly’s academic progress. Recognisance’s were f xed in the event of an appeal at Mr Kelly’s own bond of € 500 and an independent surety to be approved by the court of € 1000.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

IS IT a bird? It is a plane? No, it actually is Superman. The hunt is on to discover the true identity of a mystery man who has taken to running along the dual-carriageway from Bunratty to Shannon dressed in a full Superman outf t. The Clare man-of-steel, who is believed to be a student in the Shannon College of Hotel Management, caused a big stir last week when he was spotted by motorists running the wrong way along the N-18 between and Bunratty and Shannon.

A large number of people reported spotting the runner early last Wednesday morning, October 29, with a number of motorists also reporting the bizarre incident. A picture, reported to by the mystery man himself, was posted online last week but, just like Superman himself, The Clare People has as yet not been to discover his true identity.

A spokesperson from the National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday warned against people running on the N18, describing the practice as dangerous and a potential hazard.

All runners, cyclist and people using low powered or slow vehicles are prohibited from travelling on motorways, with runners only allowed on National Primary Roads with the permission of the Gardaí.

“The NRA would not recommend that anyone would run on this stretch of road,” said Sean O’Neil from the NRA.

“Runners are not permitted on the motorway under any circumstances. They are considered to be putting both themselves and motorists at risk.”

It would have taken the mystery runner more then half an hour to run the 8 kilometre roadway between Bunratty and Shannon – with the runner most likely turning off the main road just before it became a motorway.

rity staff member Aidan O’Connor and Mr Cooper.

“I was taken from behind and put out the door for no reason”, he said.

Mr Sherlock said he repeatedly asked to see the manager but was pushed back by Mr Cooper.

“Kevin Cooper kept pushing me till I fell to the ground and when I was on the ground, I received a kick to the head”, he added. The court heard Mr Sherlock was taken to Limerick hospital where he received four sta