News
Terrified mum feared heroin addict shot her son during burglary
A terrified mother pushed the barrel of a gun away from her chest and ran to see if her son had been shot during an aggravated burglary at their home on a summer’s evening last year.
The 60-year-old woman was resting in her upstairs bedroom, while her 21-year-old son, who has a mild learning difficulty, was listening to music in his bedroom when an armed and masked man burst into their home at 8.50pm on August 13 last year.
Daniel Barrett (25), of 147 Castlepark, Ballybane, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last July to aggravated burglary at his neighbour’s house while armed with an imitation shotgun, contrary to Section 13 (1) and (3) of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, and the matter was adjourned to last week for sentence.
Garda Pauline de Paor gave evidence Barrett went to the young man’s bedroom and held the gun to his head as he lay on his bed listening to music. He stole a number of items from his bedroom.
The woman heard noise coming from her son’s bedroom and when she opened her own bedroom door, she was confronted by a masked man in the hallway carrying what looked like a double-barrel shotgun.
He stuck the gun into her shoulder and chest area. She looked past him and saw her son, face downwards on his bed. She feared he had been shot and she pushed the gun away from her chest and ran to help her son.
Barrett ran downstairs. The woman took her son into her bedroom and they barricaded themselves inside. She screamed for help out the window.
Meanwhile, an eye witness saw a man leave a laundry basket into a neighbour’s back garden before scaling the wall into the garden of No 147 Castlepark, where Barrett lived with his grandparents.
Barrett had taken €350 cash, prescription medication, a mobile phone, two Samsung tablets, a camera, two PlayStation consoles, a kitchen knife and a cushion cover, during the burglary which he had placed in the laundry basket in order to carry them away. The cushion cover was used to carry some of the items.
The cash and two Samsung tablets were never recovered.
The woman and her son did not recognise Barrett as he had his face covered. Gardai arrested him two hours later.
The court heard Barrett had injected heroin before committing the aggravated burglary. He was still “high” when arrested and Gardai had to wait until the next morning to interview him.
Garda dePaor said the gun, while imitation, looked very realistic and it was shown to the court.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said their lives had been turned into a living nightmare that evening and they no longer felt safe in their home. It had since been turned into a fortress and a prison with alarms and security cameras.
She said she had no option but put her home up for sale, even though it held a lifetime of happy memories.
She and her late husband had raised six children there and she had so many happy memories of their lives together before his death ten years ago.
Her son expressed his fear in his statement at being attacked by Barrett’s friends in the estate and he said he no longer felt safe in his home or in his bedroom.
Barrett apologised to the woman and her son in court.
“I’m very sorry for what happened and I apologise,” he said.
Defence barrister, John Kiely SC, said his client was a heroin addict and he was under the influence of the drug when he committed this offence. He said Barrett believed the house was empty at the time.
He broke in with the intention of getting cash to feed his habit.
Judge Rory McCabe said he had heard very disturbing evidence and the victim impact statements were “very stark”.
He said he needed time to consider the evidence and he remanded Barrett in continuing custody to November 23 for 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
