Connacht Tribune
Burglar stabbed couple during attempt to steal car keys
“It was like a scene from a horror movie”, was how a young man described the moment an armed intruder stabbed him and his wife in her parent’s home earlier this year.
The intruder, Tony McDonagh (30), who had been living in the UK for years, and came originally from Innishanagh Park, Newcastle, was “high” on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he broke into the house in Bushypark looking for keys to the car parked outside, grabbed a knife from the kitchen table and made his way to the sitting room, where he attacked the couple.
He managed to steal their car, but crashed it down the road and was arrested at the scene. He has been in custody since the incident happened on February 13 last and was brought before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last week for sentence.
McDonagh pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, robbery, assault causing harm, production of weapons, stealing a car and drink driving.
Garda Gerard Brady told the hearing that Gardai received numerous calls in relation to various incidents which occurred within a short space of time on the night in question.
The first incident involved a motorist, who had been driving towards Glenlo Abbey Hotel on the Moycullen Road at 9.50pm when he encountered a man walking in the middle of the road. The driver had to stop the car to avoid a collision and as he did so, the man suddenly jumped into his car and held the serrated edge of a broken Red Bull can up to his neck.
The driver managed to push his attacker out of the car before driving off. He contacted Gardai. Garda Brady said that at around 10.30pm. Gardai received two separate reports; one of a road traffic accident at the Gortacleva road junction with the main Moycullen Road and the other about a burglary at a house in Gortacleva.
He arrived at the scene of the accident to find a car crashed into a wall at the junction.
McDonagh was at the wheel in a clearly intoxicated state. He had been injured in the collision but became very aggressive when Garda Brady approached him.
At the same time as this was happening, other Gardai went to the house in Gortacleva where they found a couple with serious stab wounds to their hands.
They told Gardai they had been in the sitting of the woman’s parent’s home, watching television when a man entered the room brandishing a large kitchen knife.
He demanded the keys for their car and then sat down, telling the couple to tie themselves up.
The couple attempted to flee the room and a tussle ensued between them and the armed intruder.
They sustained deep lacerations to their hands while trying to fend off the knife.
McDonagh grabbed the car keys and stole the car, crashing it at the nearby junction.
The man who had earlier been threatened with the Red Bull can, happened to be driving in from Moycullen when he came on a number of Gardai restraining McDonagh on the ground at the scene. He positively identified McDonagh as the man who had threatened him less than an hour earlier with the can.
Medical reports handed into court stated the woman had received deep lacerations to her left hand, particularly to the base of her thumb, consistent with holding the blade of the knife while trying to defend herself.
Her husband also received three deep lacerations to the palm in his left hand and had been left with permanent damage to tendons in his little finger.
The couple, who were present in court, asked Garda Brady to read their victim impact statements into evidence.
Both statements recounted the terrifying ordeal they had gone through that night.
“When the attack happened, I had no idea if we would live or die. Afterwards, I didn’t feel safe until we were locked inside a neighbour’s house.
“We were afraid he would come around the side of the house again. It was like a scene from a horror movie, completely terrifying,” the man said in his statement.
His wife expressed profound sorrow and sadness that she would never feel safe or secure again in her parent’s home.
She said she was now constantly on the alert and had recurring nightmares.
Garda Brady confirmed that McDonagh had 50 previous convictions recorded in the UK.
They involved thefts, intimidation of a witness and a juror, robbery, battery, assaults, aggravated car theft, racially threatening incidents, breach of bail, along with numerous public order and motoring offences.
Most recently, he had received a 19-month sentence in 2016 for intimidating a juror and a witness in a trial.
“The poor people, they must have been terrified,” McDonagh replied when Gardai told them of the couple’s injuries.
Defence barrister, Geri Silke said McDonagh had an unfortunate upbringing in Galway before the went to the UK as a teenager. She said he had just arrived in Galway the day these offences occurred and had consumed vodka and Red Bull before getting drugs from someone in Eyre Square.
Judge Rory McCabe sentenced McDonagh to six years in prison for the burglary and a further six years for the robbery at the house to run concurrently. He imposed varying, lesser, concurrent sentences for the remaining offences and disqualified McDonagh from driving for two years on the drink driving and car theft charges.
He suspended the final 18 months of the sentences for five years and said the accused was entitled to credit for time already spent in prison while awaiting sentence.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
