Breaking News
Man with Ballinasloe address remanded in custody over Athlone attack
Galway Bay fm newsroom – A 30 year old man with a Ballinasloe address has appeared in court charged with four counts of rape against two young girls in Athlone at the weekend.
The 6 and 9 year old first cousins were allegedly lured to a house, after attending a birthday party in the town on Saturday afternoon.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Longford District Court earlier.
He was remanded in custody to appear in court again on Friday.
There was a large Garda presence outside Longford District Court ahead of this morning’s court appearance.
Dressed in a black jacket and jumper and jeans, the 30 year old accused was flanked by three officers in court – one from the Armed Response Unit.
The court heard he was charged at Athlone Garda Station at a quarter to 8 last night with 4 counts of rape against the two victims – and he made no reply.
Judge Seamus Hughes accepted a request for a psychiatric evaluation and ordered that the accused be placed on suicide watch and be afforded all of the necessary protection in custody – because he said, we live in the real world.
Concerns were raised by both the prosecution and the defence about media coverage of the trial – and Judge Hughes said he had every confidence that the public would allow the legal process to take place.
The accused was remanded in custody to appear at Harristown District Court on Friday morning.
Outside the court, a crowd of around 25 people jeered as he was driven away.
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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