Tag Archives: assault

AN Ennis businessman has spoken of his “terrifying ordeal” after he was subjected to an alleged armed robbery on Wednesday afternoon, the third break-in in 12 years. Stephen Coote said a man wearing a Hallowe’en mask and dark clothing entered his shop on the Kilrush Road and held a “small black gun” up to his face. Coote’s shop is a well-known landmark in the town and is a stop-off point for people travelling to West Clare. Mr Coote’s mother, Mary, was also working in the shop at the time, when the suspect demanded money on Wednesday. He said Mary has been present for a number of break-ins, including a very serious incident, when she was left with a broken arm after a vicious assault. “He walked me halfway up the shop and started shouting at Mam, who said that she couldn’t open the till. He held the gun up to my face. I pressed the panic button as I was …

ENNIS Circuit Criminal Court has heard details of a catalogue of injuries sustained by a five-month-old baby at the hands of her mother. Judge Gerald Keys heard that the baby had multiple fractures, including a fractured arm and skull and healing fractures to areas on both her legs, when presented to hospital in 2015. A 22-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to the willful assault and neglect of her daughter. Garda Hilda Moloney outlined that on February 13, 2015, the baby’s mother attended a Clare GP with her daughter “in a distressed state”. She said the baby was not moving her left arm and “something must be wrong”. The GP carried out an examination and, along with the lack of movement, he noted bruising on the left elbow and some swelling. He also found fading bruising along the arm, suggesting older injuries and noted that the baby had signs that the underside of her tongue was torn. Further to this, there …

  A Connemara builder has been sentenced to seven years in prison with the final three years suspended for ten years for an assault on well-known  Irish traditional musician, Noel Hill. The assault in a pub toilet on St Stephen’s night seven years ago left Mr Hill, a native of Caherea, Lissycasey victim with lifelong injuries. Imposing sentence at Galway Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, Judge Rory McCabe said this had been a horrible, nasty and vicious attack and noted the consequences for the victim were appalling. Michael Folan(55) from Teach Mór, Lettermullen, Co Galway, had initially pleaded not guilty to a single charge of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Hill(57), contrary to Section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, at Tí Padraig Mairtín Beag in Leitir Mór, Connemara on St Stephen’s Day, 2008, when his trial opened before a jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court last November. He changed his plea to …

AN Ennis man who assaulted his heavily-pregnant partner received a prison sentence at Ennis District Court on Wednesday. The defendant admitted the offence, which occurred on June 27 of last year in Inagh. At the time, the woman was around 28 weeks pregnant. She was brought to the Maternity Hospital for a check-up but the baby was unharmed. The relationship subsequently ended. A three-month sentence was imposed, while a separate drugs-related charge was taken into consideration.

TWO thirds of teenagers and young adults surveyed by Clare Youth Service have felt unsafe in the Ennis Town area during the past 12 months, while 60% of those who said they had experienced crime said they were assaulted, a study by UL has revealed. More than half (54%) of senior-cycle secondary school students surveyed have also admitted to feeling unsafe, and a little less than half (46%) of the general population, who responded to the survey questionnaire, said they also felt unsafe. The study, Feeling Safe in Ennis, an exploration of perceptions of safety in Ennis, was presented to Tuesday’s Ennis Municipal District councillors by Dr Chris McInerney from the Department of Politics and Public Administration in UL. The study was commissioned following feedback gained during the Ennis 2020 consultations that had indicated some level of concern about safety issues in the town. Dr McInerney told the councillors that Ennis ranks on the lower end of the scale in …

A 23-year-old Ennis woman has been sentenced to five years in prison, with the final year suspended, for what was described as a “vicious” and “frenzied” attack on a young woman in Ennis this year. Charlene Sherlock, 23, of 41 Dromard, Lahinch Road, pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to Nicole Keane on April 13, 2013 at the Holy Family School, Station Road in Ennis and with production of a steak knife capable of inflicting serious harm on the same date at the same location. At a sitting of Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Friday, Judge Carroll Moran said this was “a vicious and protracted attack with a knife””.  He said the CCTV footage of the assault gave the impression that this was “a frenzied attack”. The injured party was stabbed 22 times but survived the attack. Judge Moran imposed a five-year prison term and he suspended the last year on the condition that the accused enter a bond to …