Connacht Tribune
Jail for man who threatened to kill neighbour
A 46-year-old man terrorised a former friend and neighbour, threatening to kill her and her family by burning their house down.
Darren McKeown, with addresses at 37 Bóthar Waithman, Ballybane, and formerly Leas an Coille and Fana Glas, appeared in custody before Galway District Court where he pleaded guilty to trespassing at his neighbour’s home in Bóthar Waithman twice on November 21 last year.
He also pleaded guilty to having a shovel intended to incapacitate or intimidate a person or cause them harm at Bóthar Waithman on January 11.
McKeown further pleaded guilty to being intoxicated and to breaching the peace by engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at Bóthar Waithman and at Fana Glas on dates between July 6 last year and January 11 last.
Garda Sean McHugh was called to Bóthar Waithman on November 21 last where he heard McKeown make a series of threats to a neighbour.
McKeown had tried to force his way into the woman’s home. He threatened to kill her and her family by burning her house down.
Gardaí were again called to the neighbourhood on January 11 last where they found McKeown shouting abuse at neighbours on the road while waving the shovel over his head. A neighbour captured the incident on CCTV from his home and showed it to Gardaí. McKeown had been held on remand in prison since that evening.
Sergeant Finbarr Philpott, prosecuting, said the woman who had received the threats in November was friendly with McKeown’s former partner and McKeown had gone to her house with the shovel.
He said the accused had 19 previous convictions for public order and motoring offences along with breach of a barring order.
Defence solicitor, Olivia Traynor, said her client told her the last few weeks had been the longest in his life because of the enforced sobriety he had endured, since going into custody on January 11.
She said her client and former partner broke up last October and things had escalated from there.
Ms Traynor said there were plans to rehouse her client and while in custody he had made contact with the probation service, hoping to get into residential treatment on his release for his alcohol addiction.
Reading a victim impact statement which was handed into court, Judge Fahy observed the woman who had been subjected to McKeown’s intimidation and threats had young children and she and her family had been badly affected.
McKeown gave evidence he had gone back on the drink and he picked up the spade and went down the road after someone had kicked in his front door and broken into his house.
He said the woman he had threatened had once been a good friend, but he claimed she had gone to the Council and petitioned to get him out of his house.
He conceded she had been caught in the middle of an argument between him and his former partner.
“I’m a man and a chronic alcoholic. I went into Castlerea and this is the first time in 30 years that I have been sober. The only reason I was arrested (on January 11) was because the Garda feared for my safety. When I take medication and drink, I don’t know what I do sometimes.
“I’m suffering from dry drink syndrome in the jail,” he told Judge Fahy.
McKeown said he was sorry for the threats he made and said the Council told him they would rehouse him after this.
Judge Fahy became incensed. She told McKeown there were at least 200 people waiting for homes in the city at present and that when he got a house, he just couldn’t behave himself.
She sentenced him to nine months for arming himself with the shovel and she imposed a consecutive three-month sentence for the first trespass charge followed by another one-month’s consecutive sentence for the second trespass.
She imposed another consecutive one-month sentence for one incident of breaching the peace and imposed concurrent one-month sentences on the remaining charges. She suspended four months of the 14-month sentence on condition McKeown reside somewhere other than his current address, have no contact with the woman or her family and link in with the probation service within 24 hours of his release from prison.
As he was being led away McKeown shouted he had been waiting nine years for a house and now he and his daughter would be back on the streets again.
Realising the length of the sentences imposed, McKeown shouted to Judge Fahy that she had gone too far, adding: “What a load of bollox.”
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
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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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
