This article is from page 14 of the 2010-02-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
GARDA reinforcements had to be brought in during a domestic dispute at a house on the outskirts of Ennis town, a court has heard.
Thomas Quinn (36), of Ashline, Kilrush Road, Ennis, was convicted of breaching the peace at his home on August 11, 2009.
Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court on Friday that gardai were called to a disturbance at the house.
He said that a woman had a large cut to her head and wounds to her body.
He said the accused asked gardai to leave the house and became ex- tremely agitated.
“He kept saying to his wife, * You are not going to complain, are you?’,” said Inspector Gallagher.
He said that a broken shovel was found in a room in the house.
The court was told that garda rein- forcements had to be called in and it took three gardai to restrain the ac- Leer
The court heard that Quinn has a string of previous convictions.
Defending solicitor Andrew Darcy told the court that there has been a lot of tragedy in his client’s family in Kero nN DON Tere
“There have been two suicide at- tempts recently in his immediately family. His first cousin died tragi- cally last week,” he said.
Referring to the offence before the court, Mr Darcy said his client had been off drink and drugs for a number of years, but had indulged on this occasion, resulting in a domestic situation.
The defendant’s wife Margaret told the court that the incident was “out of character.”
‘“He’s a very good husband; a very good father. He was only after losing a sister at 39.
“He lost a nephew at 31. It was too much,” she said.
She said that she and her husband “are getting on like a house on fire now.”
“T’ve got six kids. If Thomas goes to prison, I don’t know how I’d man- age,” she said.
Judge Timothy Lucey said, “Even though she doesn’t make a lot of it, I think it was a serious incident that required gardai to be called.”
“Anybody who defies the gardai, that aggravates the whole thing. He made it difficult for everybody. It merits a suspended sentence. He’s got to watch himself and make sure he doesn’t lose the head,” said the judge.
He imposed a three-month jail sen- tence, suspended for a year, on con- dition that he keep the peace for that period of time.