CITY TRIBUNE
Six years’ jail for burglary with hatchet and hunting knife
A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to six years in prison for an aggravated burglary at a house in the city during which he and his underage accomplice were armed with a hunting knife and hatchet.
The teenager (16), who was in the care of the HSE at the time, received a four-year suspended sentence at Galway Circuit Criminal Court last March.
His co-accused, Dominic Downes (21), 3 Doire Beag, Knocknacarra, pleaded guilty in March to aggravated burglary at the house in Hazel Park, Newcastle, on September 24 last year in that he and the juvenile trespassed at the house with intent to commit theft, and at the time had with them a large hunting knife and a hatchet.
The pair also pleaded guilty to the theft of a Stanley Wonder Bar and a Stanley axe, total value €60, from Woodie’s DIY, Galway Retail Park the evening before the burglary.
Sentence was adjourned to this week in Downes’ case for the preparation of a probation report.
Garda Robert Molloy told Downes’ sentence hearing that he and other Gardai from Galway and Salthill Stations responded to a burglary in progress call at a man’s home in Hazel Park at 1.55am on September 24 last year.
He and Garda Conor Barrett climbed into the garden at the rear of the property where they spotted the juvenile and Downes, who was carrying an implement in his hand, coming out through a rear window.
The pair ran and were chased by both Gardai over a number of garden walls.
Downes dropped a bag containing property stolen from the house. Both were caught and arrested. Downes was found in possession of a large hunting knife. Both Gardai went back to the house where they met the terrified male occupant.
He was in his underwear and was holding a kitchen knife. He was in shock and was visibly shaking.
A hatchet, left behind by the burglars, was located under the window in the man’s downstairs bedroom.
CCTV from Woodie’s captured the two accused entering the store the day before and stealing a hatchet and a long knife, which were both used in the burglary.
Garda Molloy said the man’s €550 laptop, which was stolen at the time, was later returned to him but it was damaged while the keys for his BMW car, costing €700, were never recovered.
A tablet worth €200 was recovered along with a €140 bluetooth device, while the man’s wallet which contained cash and cards and speakers worth €200 were not recovered.
A female tenant who was staying in the house at the time declined to give a victim impact statement and she has since moved to another location. Both occupants declined to come to court.
Garda Molloy read the man’s victim impact statement into evidence.
The man said he had been woken around 2am by tapping on his bedroom window. He realised someone was trying to open the window from the outside and he ran to the kitchen to find something with which to defend himself.
He ran upstairs and crouched down on the landing while at the same time dialling the emergency services for help.
He could hear voices in his bedroom downstairs while he was talking to a Garda on his phone. He hid behind the bannisters and luckily, he said, the Gardai arrived very quickly.
He could hear feet scrambling down in the bedroom and he heard shouts from the burglars and Gardai. He was trembling while this was going on, but was relieved the had Gardai arrived so quickly.
He said he subsequently suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and had to take two weeks off work.
He had nightmares for weeks and could not be on his own in the house. He too moved house and said he had suffered a huge financial loss.
“I would request these men be given a hard sentence because of the way this affected my life,” he said in his victim impact statement.
Garda Molloy confirmed Downes had seven previous convictions. He said he started to offend in 2013 and lost the sight in his left eye when assaulted with a bottle in 2014. He added Downes also had a learning disability.
Defence barrister, Conal McCarthy, said Downes’ previous offences were all minor and began when he developed a chronic alcohol and drug addiction.
Mr McCarthy said his client was examined by a doctor on the night of the burglary and was deemed too intoxicated to be questioned until the next day.
“He was out of his head, according to himself, and was drinking and taking Valium and other tablets at the time,” Mr McCarthy explained.
“He wants to apologise to the victims and he understands the trauma they suffered that night,” Mr McCarthy added.
The court heard Downes was out on bail on the aggravated burglary charge when he was arrested by Gardai on February 25 last.
He pleaded guilty before Galway District Court on June 14 to having a knife in his possession when stopped and searched by Gardai near the city centre in February and also admitted having 50 Ecstasy and 30 Valium tablets in his possession for sale or supply to others on the same date. He told Gardai at the time that he carried the knife for his own protection.
He appealed the severity of sentences totalling eight months imposed in the District Court in June for those offences, to the Circuit Court this week.
Judge Rory McCabe said Downes told his probation officer that he was under the influence of Valium on the night of the aggravated burglary because he had had a row with his girlfriend and he also (mistakenly) thought there may have been a stash of drugs in the house.
“That’s hardly justification for aggravated burglary. He’s a danger to others unless he addresses his problems,” Judge McCabe said before imposing a six-year sentence.
Noting the District Court appeal charges were committed while Downes was out on bail, Judge McCabe made the eight-month sentence consecutive to the six years, but he suspended it for three years.
“I’m very sorry to have to do this to such a young man, but he is not prepared to take the hard steps he needs to take if he is to change,” the judge said after imposing the six-year sentence.
The judge refused an application by Mr McCarthy to suspend part of the sentence, given Downes’ young age, saying he couldn’t do that because there was no evidence before the court to show the accused was prepared to mend his ways.
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.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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