Tag Archives: murder charge

A 40-year-old Galway man has been sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court, charged with murdering his brother. Declan Ó Cualain, with an address at An Caoran Beag, An Cheathru Rua, appeared before a sitting of Ennis District Court on Wednesday charged with the murder of Adrian Folan (Ó Cualain) on July 4, 2014 at Lislorkin North, Liscannor. Garda Ruth O’Sullivan gave evidence of serving a copy of the Book of Evidence on the defendant’s solicitor, Adrian MacLynn, for his client, Declan Ó Cualain. Inspector Tom Kennedy, prosecuting, outlined that the Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the defendant being returned for trial to the next session of the Central Criminal Court sitting in Dublin, in custody. An application was made by Mr MacLynn to extend free legal aid to cover one senior counsel and one junior counsel.Man facing Mr Ó Cualain was remanded in custody to Limerick Prison, pending his trial. By Carol Byrne

A man who admits killing a Polish man in Ennis last year but denies murdering him told gardai that he “just went berserk”. Michael Maughan (40) of Stone Court, Ennis pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Piotr Nowakowski (31) at Sandfield Mews, Ennis on July 23, 2013. Last week the Central Criminal Court was told the manslaughter plea was not acceptable to the prosecution and a jury was sworn in for the murder trial. The accused has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Declan O’Dea at the same address on the same date. On Tuesday, memos of garda interviews with the accused during his detention were read to the jury, in which the accused said that he stabbed Mr Nowakowski twice. “I pulled a knife and stabbed him twice…I don’t feel one bit proud,” he told gardai. “Declan got a few clouts and he ran,” he added. He then told gardai that after paramedics arrived …