Tag Archives: Ennis District Court

A 33-YEAR-OLD man, who has pleaded guilty to making a large number of calls to various emergency services last year, has been warned that he is facing an 18 to 19-month prison sentence if he does it again. Richard McDermott, with an address at 6 St Flannan’s Terrace, Ennis, is charged with making 134 calls to emergency services on dates between July 25, 2015 and September 27, 2015. He was further charged with public intoxication on July 29, 2016. The calls involved were placed to various emergency numbers, including 999, the ambulance control base, Ennis Garda Station and Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick. Defence solicitor Tara Godfrey told the court that her client, who admits the charges, is a “very vulnerable person”. She outlined how some of the assistance he is getting from the Brothers of Charity had been withdrawn. Judge Patrick Durcan said he wanted McDermott to give an undertaking under oath that he would not make these …

A SHANNON woman, who falsified a medical document in order to substantiate a personal injury claim against a Limerick shopping centre, has ended up in court herself, on charges of deceiving her solicitor and of forgery. Tracy O’Connell, (33), of 21 Cúl na Gréine, appeared at Ennis District Court on Wednesday, where it was outlined that she had instructed a solicitor to take a case against the Crescent Shopping Centre for an alleged fall and used a forged medical report to substantiate her claim. O’Connell pleaded guilty to dishonestly by deception, inducing James Shanahan, a solicitor with Sixmilebridge-based firm Bowen and Company, to commence proceedings in a personal injury claim with the intention of making again for herself on November 26, 2015 at The Oakwood Arms Hotel, Shannon. She also admitted making a false medical report in relation to a personal injury claim with intent to induce another person to accept it as genuine on a date unknown between September …

A 62-YEAR-old man has appeared in court charged with the rape, sexual assault and indecent assault of a young teenager 27 years ago. The man, who is from County Clare and cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with 11 counts of rape, four counts of oral rape, six counts of sexual assault and four counts of indecent assault on the same female. The charges are alleged to have taken place on various dates and at various locations within County Clare between December 18, 1989 and March 31, 1992, when the complainant would have been between 12 and 14 years of age. At a sitting of Ennis District Court, Detective Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy gave evidence of arresting the man and informed the court that the accused made no reply to any of the charges after caution. The man, who appeared in custody, was admitted to bail on his own bond of €500, subject to conditions that he reside at …

A 74-year-old peace activist has described as “unconstitutional” bail conditions banning him from entering Clare with the exception of court appearances. Colm Roddy, of Bayside Walk, Sutton, Dublin 13 appeared before Ennis District Court this week where he attempted to have his “onerous” bail conditions, which he says he signed under protest, made more lenient. Mr Roddy, along with Dave Donnellan, 56, of Reuben Street, Rialto in Dublin, who was also in court on Wednesday and made a similar application, have both been charged in relation to an alleged incursion at Shannon Airport. It is alleged that they both caused criminal damage to a perimeter fence at Shannon Airport on May 25 of this year. Inspector Tom Kennedy informed the court that the gardaí are awaiting instructions from the Director of Public Prosecution in relation to the case. Bail conditions, including that the pair stay away from Clare, were imposed in May at Gort District Court by Judge James Faughnan …

A self-taught cannabis grower who was cultivating plants in his bedroom in a “sophisticated way” without the use of soil, was interested in the science of the process, Ennis District Court heard last week. John Conneely of Shandangan, Corofin pleaded guilty to the cultivation of cannabis plants at his address, having cannabis for sale or supply and possession of controlled drugs on May 25, 2015. At a sitting of Ennis District Court on Thursday last, gardaí outlined that eight cannabis plants and 450g of cannabis valued at €9,000 was found at the defendant’s home. The defendant alleged he was cultivating for personal use only and that the way the drugs were found – separated out into different jars – was not for selling purposes but rather to separate out the flavours. Solicitor for Conneely, Stiofán Fitzpatrick, said his client, who he described as reclusive, is in his 40s and lives at home with his parents. He left school at 14. …

People always ask Margaretta D’Arcy how did she become an anti-war activist? In her new book, Ireland’s Guantanamo Granny, the Galway-based activist answers the question by showing how her early experiences of war motivated her to campaign for peace. “I’m nearly 82 and not many people will remember the effect of World War II. My family had been living in Dublin but when I was about four or five, my father was transferred. He was a civil servant with the Department of Agriculture and we were to go and live in England,” she says. “A couple of days later came the news about the beginning of the war. The whole of London was like a war zone, with all these barrage balloons and sirens going off. It was an extremely frightening experience.” Ms D’Arcy says what followed was “panic” to get the family back to Ireland. “I think when a child has that trauma and the effect of the war …

A 37-year-old man appeared in Ennis District Court this week charged with the sexual exploitation of a child in County Clare. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with the sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl on a date between September 7, 2014 and September 27, 2014. The charge states that the accused communicated with the child with the intention of carrying out an act that would constitute the sexual exploitation of the child contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking Act 1998. During the hearing on Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy informed Judge Patrick Durcan that the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed that the case could be dealt with by summary disposal in the district court. Inspector Kennedy informed Judge Durcan that the contact that was made between the accused and the injured party consisted of about 40 to 50 text messages and he added that about half of the text messages were of …

Gardaí were able to arrest a drug addict, who admitted trespassing with intent to commit theft, after they followed a trail of blood from a hand injury the man sustained while gaining entry to a premises. The shrewd piece of detective work was outlined to Judge Patrick Durcan at this week’s of Ennis District Court when Patrick Ballard (28) was sentenced to a term in prison. The court heard that on July 1 last, at 2.15am, a window was broken at the Spar shop in Lifford and gardaí were called. Arriving on the scene, they found a trail of blood, which led back to Lifford Lodge, where they found Patrick Ballard with cuts to his hand. He had cut his hand in his attempt to get into the shop. The court heard that the defendant had 68 previous convictions, six of them for theft and one for burglary. Mr Ballard’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey, said he has significant difficulty with his …