Tag Archives: Tara Godfrey solicitor

A MAN kicked in the door of woman’s bedroom and assaulted her just over a month before murdering another woman in Ennis, a court has heard. Patrick Ballard (35) is serving a life sentence for the murder of mother of two Sharon Bennett (29) in the market area of Ennis on January 28, 2021. Ballard, with former addresses at the Ashford Court hotel, Ennis, appeared before Ennis district this week to be sentenced for offences he committed in the town on December 23, 2020. He pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal damage and one charge of assaulting a woman, all relating to offences at a house in Park Avenue, Clonroad, Ennis. The court heard Ballard has 140 previous convictions including four for assault and nine for criminal damage. Judge Mary Larkin said the accused’s criminal record has to be considered “quite significant”. Of the assault Ballard committed in December 2020, Judge Larkin said, “This woman was attacked in her …

At Kilrush District Court on Tuesday, Judge Patrick Durcan calculated that Mary Maughan receives €55,000 a year on various State benefits. Addressing Ms Maughan, Judge Durcan said, “You receive around €55,000 a year in benefits and if you were paying tax and all of that, you would need an income of €120,000 a year”. In the witness box, Ms Maughan replied, “probably”. Judge Durcan continued, “People are always complaining that the level of social welfare payments are inadequate – that is a political view – and the court cannot comment on something like that otherwise than to note.” Solicitor Tara Godfrey said the payments are required for the care of six children. Ms Maughan receives benefit payments concerning her own four children, along with two other children she is guardian of. Ms Maughan was put forward as a bails person for her brother Darren Maughan (26), who was on remand in prison but required an independent surety for his conditional …

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 …