The Clare People Archive

A BIZARRE Ennis conspiracy to murder trial, which has heard refer- ences to a hitman website, swingers clubs, prostitutes, transvestites and a fake marriage certificate is expected to conclude today.

The jury in the trial of Sharon Col- lins (45) and Essam Eid (52), who deny conspiring to murder her part- ner PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall in 2006, will resume delib- erations this morning. The jury was sent to a hotel for the night after de- liberating for over three-and-a-half hours yesterday, as the trial entered its eighth week.

Ms Collins, of Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis, has also pleaded not guilty to soliciting Mr Eid to kill the three businessmen.

AN EIGHT year old boy had a mi- raculous escape in Kilkee yesterday after his head was wedged between the road and the tyre of a moving vehicle as he tried to retrieve a ball from beneath it.

The accident happened shortly be- fore 4 o’clock yesterday at Geraldine Place in Kilkee when the boy was playing near the four wheel drive sport utility vehicle (SUV). The child had attempted to retrieve a ball from under the vehicle when it began

to move forward, pinning him un- derneath.

The boy screamed in agony alerting the driver who stopped immediately.

The owner jumped from the vehi- cle to find the young child wedged between the wheel and the ground. An ambulance and local doctor were summoned to the scene but the local ambulance in Kilrush was respond- ing to a medical emergency also near Kilkee so an ambulance had to be despatched from Ennis.

As the ambulance would have tak- en more than half an hour to get from

Ennis to the scene, the child’s parents carefully placed him in the vehicle and drove towards Ennis to meet the ambulance. A local doctor was also sent to the scene but the child was on the way to Ennis before he arrived.

The vehicle pulled in just outside Kilrush where they waited for the ambulance crew who by now were only seconds away. He was assessed by medics before being rushed to Ennis General Hospital for treat- ment. The child arrived at the hospi- tal shortly after 5pm.

It is understood that the youngster

sustained “road rash” injuries and scrapes to his head and face but re- mained conscious throughout the incident and during the journey to hospital.

He was treated at Ennis Gen- eral Hospital and it was hoped that he would be released last night or early this morning after treatment. He received stitches to a number of wounds.

The child’s parents, who followed the ambulance to the hospital, are said to be very upset by the acci- elem

AND so it’s over for another year. You came, you took part and you ate the Mars bars. Some of you raced against each other, some raced against the clock. Novices to the sport ran some, walked some, ran some, walked some, while seasoned walkers cruised around the course.

Whatever way covered the distance, congratulations. Ten kilometres is no easy distance. Hopefully by now, you have stopped walking like John Wayne and you can start to contemplate climb- ing the stairs again.

While you were counting the cost of your efforts around the course, we were counting the money raised for charity. Over 1500 competitors showed up on

Saturday morning and this converts to well over €15,000 raised for charity. A resounding success yet again.

This year our numbers rose again and I would urge all of you who intended taking part but didn’t get around to it, to put it in your diary for next June.

The organising committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped out in any way with The Clare 10k.

The list is long and they will be thanked individually at a later date, but for now all that remains is to say thanks for all your help and we hope to see you all again next year.

AN intoxicated defendant who shouted at a judge that he wanted to go on his holidays got his wish. But instead of making a hotel reservation Michael McCarthy (26) of 6 Watery Road, Ennis found himself a guest of the State for a week.

McCarthy appeared in_ court charged in connection with an al- leged incident in Corofin.

But his case was held over because, solicitor Tara Godfrey said, it was tracking another case before the Cir- cuit Court.

When McCarthy heard that the case was not to be dealt with on Fri- day , he shouted that it was “now or never. I’m going to walk. I’ve to go on my holidays.”

As he left the courtroom he told a garda who remonstrated with him to “fuck off” and Judge Joseph Mangan ordered that McCarthy be brought back into the body of the court.

Judge Mangan asked the court Garda whether there was a smell of alcohol from McCarthy and was told that there was. “Is this man intoxi- cated?” the judge asked, to which the garda relied “he is.”

McCarthy told the court “I’ll lose my job, coming here.”

Ms Godfrey told the court that it would not be possible to deal with the case because of the Circuit Court proceedings and Judge Mangan said it “is not possible to dealt with it when he is intoxicated”.

He ordered McCarthy remanded in custody until July 4.

THE trial of an 18-year-old student, accused of murdering an Ennis schoolboy a year ago is expected to take place in Ennis in February.

John McGovern, of Ballyduff, Barefield, Ennis, is charged with murdering Michael Doherty (14), on June 23 last year.

Mr Doherty, a settled Traveller,

died as a result of an altercation on O’Connell Street, having sustained Stab wounds to the chest.

The case was listed for mention at the Central Criminal Court in Dub- lin yesterday, with a view to fixing a CHK KOU CembUEADE

Mr McGovern’s barrister Mark Nicholas, BL, said the Senior Coun- sel in the case, Patrick Gageby, was seeking that the case be heard on the

week beginning February 2 or Feb- UE aaezer

Mr Nicholas said the case is likely to last between five and seven days.

The court registrar said he wasn’t in a position to fix a date at this stage.

Mr Justice Liam McKechnie told Mr Nicholas, “We will take a note of that. We will communicate with you.”

In May, Mr Justice Paul Carney

ruled that the trial will go ahead in Ennis, despite objections from gardai, who asked that it take place in Dublin.

On that date, Mr Gageby applied for the trial to be heard in Ennis.

He noted that the objection to the trial going ahead in Ennis was “on the grounds of safety”.

“If there is any real apprehension that attendance of numbers of the

Travelling community would have any adverse effect, the gardai in En- nis would be well qualified to deal with it,” he pointed out.

However, Caroline Biggs, BL, for the prosecution, said, “There are fears for security, based on knowl- edge and intelligence. If it is in Dub- lin, a large number of individuals would not come to Dublin. The con- cerns are genuine.”

A ROMANIAN man and woman who admitted their role in an ATM bank skimming scam that ripped off several Bank of Ireland customers, have been ordered to leave Ireland.

Last February, Pavel Cirpaci (24) and Gabriela Lupu (20) were in- volved in what was described as an elaborate scam. It started by damag- ing an ATM machine at SkyCourt, Shannon, before access was gained to customers’ accounts, via a pass machine in Killarney.

Cirpaci, of Carrig Court, Fortunes- town Lane, Tallaght, and Lupu, of Triogue Manor, Portlaoise, admitted damaging the machine, to the value of €300, and possession of a Sony Ericsson mobile phone, with intent to use it in connection with a theft.

At Ennis Circuit Court, they also pleaded guilty to unlawfully with- drawing money, totaling <€4,860, from nine Bank of Ireland accounts, in Killarney, on February 11 last. The two were arrested the following day and were later charged. Cirpaci also admitted escaping from custody at Shannon Garda Sta- tion, on February 12. Sergeant Seamus Mulligan told the court that at 4.30am on February 12, gardai were alerted to two people behaving suspiciously at the ATM machine at the Bank of Ireland in Shannon. According to witnesses, they were “coming and going” for the previous hour or so. The ATM machine had been dam- aged and the front panel was slightly loose on the machine. Further exam- ination showed it had been taken off and attempts made to replace it. ‘There was other damage. A small hole had been drilled behind the face of the machine and a mobile phone was inserted. The camera from the phone was looking down at the key- pay and was recording from the ma- chine. If someone put in their PIN, it would be recorded on the mobile phone,” he said. The phone was bought by the de- fendants at the Crescent shopping centre in Limerick, on January 31. “They specifically looked for longer memory time so it could record PIN numbers for six to eight hours. They probably would have returned the following night and have PIN num- bers from the whole day. “At stage two, the front was fitted on the machine, so when someone puts an ATM card into the machine, it would record details from the strip of the ATM card and reproduce someone’s ATM card, without them knowing, and access their bank ac- counts,” said Sgt Mulligan. They initially told gardai they were living locally, but this proved to be false. They were searched at Shannon Garda Station, where two Dunnes Stores gift cards. were found. “On each of the cards, there was a little white sticker on the front, with a four-digit PIN number on them. On the back of one card, there was a se- ries of numbers. That was a bank sort code and bank account number of an injured party and the number on the white sticker was her PIN number. Several withdrawals had been made from her account,’ he said. €4.780 had been withdrawn from that particular Ennis woman’s ac- count, but of that, there was just one charge before the court, relating to a €700 withdrawal in Killarney. Neither of the accused co-operated and Cirpaci initially produced ident- fication for another man. Cirpaci, a father-of-two, has lived in Ireland for at least six years and has 39 previous convictions. 10 of those were for theft and were appealed at Mullingar Circuit Court, which ruled that the sentence would be suspended if he agreed to leave the jurisdiction. His co-accused, Lupu, did not have any previous convictions. Asked was any of the money recov- ered, the garda said that €4,500 was recovered on the persons that night, while €4,950 was recovered in a subsequent search. Cirpaci’s barrister Michael Fitzgib- bon said his client didn’t co-operate as he was “fearful for the safety of his wife and children”. Sgt Mulligan replied, “It hardly ne- gates the fact he undertook to take part in those crimes. I have to think of the injured parties who had money taken from their accounts.” Mr Fitzgibbon said his client would undertake to leave Ireland forever. Sgt Mulligan said he had no prob- lem seeing him leave the country if there was a lengthy sentence waiting for him if he returned. Mr Fitzgibbon said that while the figure €190,000 had been men- tioned, the charges before the court, referred to only a fraction of this. Lupu’s barrister Michael Hourigan said the guilty pleas saved the State the trouble of having to give evidence in court. He said his client would also undertake to leave Ireland. Sgt Mulligan replied, “The inves- tigation was more complicated than the evidence we'd have to give. We had a number of people working on this full-time over the past three to four months. It was a significant in- vestigation. I think the hard work is done at this stage.” Judge Rory McCabe said it was a well-executed operation. “This has all the hallmarks of a well-planned operation. It doesn’t seem to be opportunistic in any way. I’m suspending the sentences on the undertaking that they leave the juris- diction and never to return,” he said. He imposed an 18-month term on Cirpaci and a six month sentence on Lupu, suspended for 10 years, on con- dition that they leave the country. Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan BL, said Cirpaci is due to be released from custody on July 16 and on that date the State will pay for his removal from the jurisdiction. Lupu had sufficient funds to arrange for her own departure forthwith.

Another priority for Peter’s year at the helm will be securing improved sporting facilities for the town.

“We have a fabulous facility at Lees Road and a facility at Ballyalla that is not being used to anything like it’s full potential. I would like to progress plans to link the two, which would give us a wide rang of sport- ing facilities.”

The Fianna Fail councillor took the chain of office on Friday night from outgoing Mayor, Tommy Bren- nan after being unanimously elected Mayor on the proposal of Frankie Neylon (Ind) and being seconded by Fianna Fail’s Joe Reidy.

“It is an honour to be elected unan- imously after 33 years. I believe I came back from the brink and I will do everything I can to represent and advance Ennis,” he said.

He told the meeting of Ennis Town Council that he hoped his colleagues “will be conscious of my physical

limitations over the next eight to ten weeks. I would ask for your support during that time.”

There were tributes to the outgo- ing mayor from council members and staff and Cllr Brennan himself thanked the council members and the council staff for their work, sup- port and co-operation during his year in office. Tom Glynn (FF) was elected Deputy Mayor. But the meet- ing did not agree to his suggestion that the Deputy Mayoralty be shared between himself and Green Party councillor, Donal O Bearra.

IF anyone ever doubted the strong re- lationship between Kilkee and Lim- erick they should speak to the seaside town’s newly elected mayor.

PJ Linnane has played as impor- tant a role in the Treaty city, as he is about to embark upon in his own hometown.

Cllr Linnane (FF) is a member of Limerick city’s much publicised re- generation programme and has in the past week been elected unopposed as the mayor of Kilkee.

The project manager was first elect- ed to Kilkee Town Council in 1994.

He did not stand for the council in

1999, but the political bug had taken

hold and he was successful elected

again in 2004.

During the term 1997-1998 he was chairman of the council, but since the Local Government Act the chair- person of the council is now called mayor.

The title of mayor is a great source of pride to the Kilkee man, his wife Evelyn and his three sons. An active politician Cllr Linnane serves on the Community and Culture SPC and represents Kilkee on the Committee for social services and health imple- mentation.

It was through friendships he de- veloped with the many Limerick visitors to Kilkee that Cllr Linnane first became involved in the city’s social issues.

Through one of those friendships

he met a man who had opened an en- gineering factory in Moyross to pro- vide employment for local youths.

Cllr Linnane said he was the first politician to visit the factory.

He was also there when former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visited the area, and gave the seal of approval to the regeneration of the socially de- prived area.

Cllr Linnane now hopes to encour- age Clare County Council to rezone land on the Clare side of the bound- ary for the regeneration programme.

In Kilkee the new mayor has also a few issues of his own to deal with.

During his year as first citizen of the town he hopes to get all parties involved in the contentious Dunlicky Road Quarry issue sitting down.

CLARE County Council made his- tory yesterday (Monday) when it elected its first ever Fine Gael mayor in the lifetime of the council.

Councillor Madeleine ‘Taylor Quinn (FG) was also the first mayor to be elected in the new purpose built council chambers.

The former TD and senator was elected unopposed having been pro- posed by fellow west Clare Fine Gael councillor Oliver Garry and second- ed by Ennis councillor Tommy Bren- nan (Ind).

The election of the west Clare woman Sees the end of an agreement brokered by Cllr Brennan to rotate the role of mayor during the term of this council.

In proposing Cllr Taylor Quinn as first citizen Cllr Garry said that she along with her late father Frank had provided 54 years of unbroken serv- ice to Clare County Council.

Madeleine’s mother Ann Rita sat in the packed public gallery watching the occasion with Madeleine’s hus- band George, sons David and Eoin, other family members and friends, including Fine Gael Deputy Joe

Carey.

Taking the chair Cllr Taylor Quinn paid tribute to her predecessor Cllr Patricia McCarthy. “You took on the office with energy, enthusiasm and commitment,” she said.

“Tt is said that “Politics is the Art of the Possible” and belatedly I am beginning to support this theory. When first elected to this council it would not have remotely occurred to me that one day I might be Chairman or Mayor of Clare County Council. Fine Gael councillors never held the office, so it is with humility and thoughtful regard for all those who

served here in the past, some still with us, others deceased that I take on the mantle of the mayoralty,” she added.

Councillors from all parties and areas congratulated Clare’s first ever Fine Gael mayor.

They also paid tribute to the hard and dedicated work of the outgoing mayor Cllr McCarthy, and to Cllr Tommy Brennan for organising and securing the rotation deal.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) told the new mayor “Your commitment, your integrity and performance in politics can never be in doubt.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) told her that she “may have been elected in the west but you are respected in the rest.”

In congratulating the mayor Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald quipped, “I feel sorry for your husband George, he has to do the washing, ironing and everything else,” he said.

Cllr Colm Wiley (FF) reminded councillors that it was the last AGM they will have as the current coun- cil.

“In this last year let us all pull to- gether for the people of Clare, those that elected us and the mayor.”

WEST Clare councillor Bill Cham- bers (FF) has been elected deputy mayor of Clare for the second time in a row.

The Cooraclare man has held on to the position for the coming year and is the only man in Clare to have dep- utised for two lady mayors. He was elected unopposed after being nom1- nated by PJ Kelly, seconded by Pat Daly and supported by Joe Arkins.

With 23 years in Clare County Council he is more than up to the challenge of the coming year and is already looking forward to going on the hustings next year.

Cllr Chambers was first elected to the council in 1985, and during the same year he began serving on the Mid Western Health Board.

When the health boards were dis- banded, the Fianna Fail councillor was elected to the HSE Forum West.

The change between the two sys- tems was very significant for the councillor. “In the HSE forum you have no power. You cannot make any decisions, just recommendations,’ he said.

The health services have always been a priority for the Cooraclare councillor, as he maintains that the future of Ennis General Hospital is one of his political priorities.

“T would like to see the €39 mil- lion spent on it very soon, they say it is ring fenced but I would like to see it in use,” he said.

With one year left in the lifetime of this council, Cllr Chambers said he would like to see work begun in the sewerage schemes in Cooraclare, Carrigaholt and Labasheeda. “They have been waiting so long, it is time it was done,” he said.

Cllr Chamber said he is looking forward to the year as deputy may- or, having enjoyed last year. “I like meeting people,” he said.