News
Homeowner photographed and followed armed intruder
A chef, who may have been under the influence of drugs, has been sentenced to seven months in prison for trespassing in a family’s back garden while carrying a knife.
Spanish national, Allejandro Boblas Conejo (39), with an address at 13 Gleann Burren Park, Tuam Road, denied two charges of entering the curtilage of a family home at College Road on September 24 last year, and to having a knife in his possession when arrested a short time later on the same date by Gardai at Glenanail Drive, Riverside.
A Spanish interpreter was present at Galway District Court to assist the accused who has been living and working in Ireland for the past four years.
Mr Joe Quinn gave evidence that he, his wife and their two children were just sitting down to dinner at 7pm that evening when his son noticed someone out in their back yard, heading towards the house.
Mr Quinn said he went to the back door and confronted a man who turned and ran.
He said the man jumped over a seven-foot high wall in the garden. He said he grabbed his camera, went around the front of the house and took a photograph of the man as he fled.
He then rang the Gardai and while speaking to a Garda, he could see the man go past the Huntsman and go up towards the Tuam Road.
He followed the man in his jeep while still speaking to a Garda in Mill Street on his phone.
He saw the man turn into Riverside and he kept the Garda appraised of the man’s movements.
Meanwhile, Garda Padraig Healy who was on patrol in the area was alerted to what was happening and went to Riverside.
Mr Quinn stayed in his jeep and pointed Conejo out to Garda Healy when he arrived in Riverside.
Mr Quinn explained the accused would have had to walk about 100 yards, around the side of his house and around the back to get to the door.
Garda Healy gave evidence the accused was out of breath and sweating when he caught up with him in Riverside. He admitted jumping into Mr Quinn’s garden and said he had been confused.
He arrested him on the spot for trespassing at Mr Quinn’s home.
He said he searched the accused and found a knife with a sharp blade in his trouser pocket.
Garda Healy said Conejo told him he was carrying the knife for his own security because he was scared of a group of people.
He claimed he had jumped into the garden because he was afraid.
Garda Healy said Conejo was concerned that he was being following while in the Garda Station and Gardai left him home afterwards to assist him.
Mr Martin said his client thought he and a friend were in danger. He said his client was carrying the knife because he works as a chef in various restaurants around the city.
He said Conejo carried the knife to and from work every day.
Garda Healy confirmed Conejo was still working as a chef in a city establishment.
Conejo gave evidence himself and with the help of the interpreter he said he had a dream while sleeping in a friend’s house that someone was going to hurt him and a female friend he liked.
“I started hearing voices and for my safety and the other person’s safety, I tried to warn them and I just fled. I jumped the wall to escape,” he said.
He said he thought he had gone into his friend’s house as people were following him and trying to hurt him. “I was very confused,” he added
Judge Fahy, who had been watching Conejo very closely as he was giving his evidence, said she noticed he knew English very well as he was not even listening to the interpreter.
Mr Martin handed a letter from the Galway Mental Health service into court relating to his client.
Judge Fahy read the letter and then asked if she was being expected to believe the man thought he could carry a sharp knife around with him.
Mr Martin said that under the law, a person is entitled to carry a knife in relation to their work and that his client was carrying it to and from work.
“I don’t accept that. If every chef armed themselves with knives where would we be? I don’t accept that at all,” Judge Fahy replied.
Mr Martin said the offences before the court arose out of an episode his client was going through at the time.
Judge Fahy said the accused knew quite well he should not be carrying a knife.
She sentenced him to four months for trespassing at Mr Quinn’s home and imposed a consecutive three-month sentence for carrying the knife.
Referring to the letter handed into court after sentence, Judge Fahy said: “His mental state at the time was from taking cannabis and possible other drugs, according to this report.”
Conejo lodged €600 in cash in court to appeal the 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.
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
