News
Heartless thief stole €40,000 from his grieving aunt
A 24-year-old burglar ransacked his aunt’s home, stealing over €40,000 worth of her jewellery and other items while she was attending the funeral of her sister, who had died suddenly.
Cian Cantwell, with addresses at Nun’s Island and 9 Ard na Gaoithe, Upper Clybaun Road, Knocknacarra, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court in March to entering a house in Monalee Heights, Knocknacarra, as a trespasser between October 10 and 11, 2013, with intent to commit theft.
Sentence was adjourned to last week for the preparation of reports. Garda John Horkan told the sentence hearing one of Cantwell’s aunts died suddenly and Cantwell knew his other aunt and her husband would be away attending the funeral.
He broke a kitchen window to gain entry to the house, which he then ransacked, stealing his aunt’s jewellery, two televisions, a safe, a video, laptop and printer. The woman’s husband, who is a retired Garda, read a victim impact statement to the court.
He said his wife suffered from a serious mental illness and this burglary had plunged her into a deep depression, from which she had not recovered.
He said his wife had been very good to her nephew down through the years and she was devastated when she heard he had burgled her home.
Her husband said all of his wife’s jewellery, including her engagement ring, which was of great sentimental value, was taken and never returned.
Special purchases the couple had made during a cruise they had taken together following his retirement, were also stolen and could never be replaced, he said.
He said he knew immediately on entering the house, that the burglar knew exactly where everything was and must be someone they knew.
“In her will, she had left her jewellery to her granddaughter and there’s nothing left now to leave her.
“He just didn’t steal her possessions, but also my wife’s health,” the man said.
Defence barrister, Geri Silke said her client did not intentionally target his aunt’s house and didn’t know whose house he had broken into.
She said he was “off his head” on drugs at the time and when he “came to” and realised what he had done he became very remorseful, went immediately to the Gardai and handed himself in.
“He would not like you to think he targeted his poor aunt. He has done everything since to rehabilitate himself and is now off all drugs and doing everything he can to stay out of trouble,” Ms Silke said to Judge Rory McCabe.
She asked him to adjourn sentence for a year so that her client could get the treatment he needed.
“He has changed as a human-being as a result of this,” Ms Silke added.
Judge McCabe told Cantwell this was a despicable crime, committed against his own aunt who was grieving the loss of her sister at the time.
“The harm you caused is ongoing and is never likely to be healed.
“This was a callous, thoughtless and wanton crime by the accused who put his own needs before those of others.
“The court cannot accept his expression of remorse is genuine,” Judge McCabe said.
He indicated the crime merited a six-year sentence, with two years taken off for the plea, thus sparing his aunt from having to give evidence at his trial.
That left four years, he said, and as the accused was currently engaged in a process of rehabilitation, he said he would allow him complete that before finalising sentence this time next year.
The degree to which Cantwell engaged with the rehabilitation services in the interim would determine how much of the four-year sentence he would serve next year, the judge said.
“He obviously didn’t tell anybody where the stolen items went or try to get them back. There may be no way of avoiding a custodial sentence, but we will wait the year,” Judge McCabe added.
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.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
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.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
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
