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Knocknacarra man loses appeal against six year sentence
Galway Bay fm newsroom – A city man who broke into a Galway home with an underage accomplice armed with a hunting knife and hatchet has lost an appeal against his six year sentence.
23 year old Dominic Downes, with an address at Doire Beag, Knocknacarra, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary of a house in Hazel Park, Newcastle, on September 24, 2016.
Dominic Downes was sentenced at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to six years imprisonment on July 18, 2017.
His co-accused, who was a minor and in the care of the HSE at the time, received a four-year suspended sentence on a different date.
Downes lost an appeal against the severity of his sentence this week with the Court of Appeal holding that his six year term was within the range available to the Circuit Court judge.
Giving judgment, President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said gardaí were alerted when two men were seen leaving the rear of a house at Hazel Park, in Newcastle.
While gardaí were in pursuit, one of the men dropped a bag containing a large amount of stolen property.
Mr Justice Birmingham said Downes had a large hunting knife with him. A hatchet, found nearby, was also used in the course of the burglary.
He said €1,760 worth of property was stolen, only some of which was recovered.
One of the injured parties moved out of the house following the burglary.
The other injured party was off work for two weeks with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Mr Justice Birmingham said Downes had begun to get into trouble around the age of 18 and had, what was described as, an “extensive catalogue since”.
The court heard that he was the victim of a “stabbing / bottling” incident which resulted in him losing the sight in one eye.
While on bail for the burglary offence, he committed further offences, the court heard.
Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said no error had been identified in the sentence and the appeal was therefore dismissed.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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