This article is from page 4 of the 2006-02-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
OPPOSING factions in a feud, who ended up on charges because they had a set-to on the steps of the courthouse, had a second courthouse showdown while waiting for that case to be heard.
Judge Aeneas McCarthy was told that every time particular members of the McDonogh and Mongan families met, there was trouble.
Bernard McDonogh of Ashline in Ennis, Christopher McDonogh of Davitt Terrace in Ennis, and Edward and Christopher Mongan of Clondalkin in Dublin had previously been convicted of violent disorder. While they were leaving court after that conviction, they started trading insults on the steps of the court, Ennis District Court heard.
That resulted in their appearance in the court on Friday on Public Order charges before Judge Aeneas McCarthy.
But Inspector Michael Gallagher told the judge that after the court rose for lunch, while the two sides waited for their case to be heard, “there was another altercation.”
He said that the on-going tensions were the result of a long-standing feud between the two sides. But apart from their flare ups when the two sides met, the judge was told, they were law-abiding citizens who had never been in trouble with the gardaí.
“After each incident, all four appear genuinely remorseful, but when they confront each other, it is like a red rag to a bull,” Sergeant Alan McLeish said.
Solicitors for both sides said their clients were pleading guilty to the charges and wanted an end to the tensions.
As the Mongans had now moved to Dublin, the opposing factions were less likely to meet. Each of the men is father to five children, the court heard.
The court heard that as a result of the original violent disorder conviction, the parties were due to have three year suspended sentences imposed and these would take effect in July, provided there was no further trouble.
Judge McCarthy said that he took “a serious view of trouble at the courts. People should be able to come to court without getting caught up in feuding gang violence.”
He jailed each of the men for terms of four months and two months on the two public order charges. He set bail at an independent surety of €1,500 and their own bonds of €500 each.