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A MAN whose jail term for raping his pregnant ex-girlfriend at gunpoint in her County Clare home was described by a court as “unduly lenient” will reappear in court later this week.

Last week, the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) ruled that a 10-year jail term – three of which was suspended – handed down to a 45-yearold man last year should be reconsidered.

However, it did not finalise the case and adjourned it to allow for a governor’s report and psychiatric report to be prepared by the man’s legal team. The case will be before the threejudge CCA again on Thursday. The case came before the CCA after the DPP appealed the sentence handed down.

The man, who was living in Clare, was convicted last year of rape, anal rape, false imprisonment, possessing a firearm and threatening to kill the woman on September 9, 2007.

The CCA said last week it found the case to be “most shocking” as it had involved profound violence.

The man was convicted after a 14-day trial at the Central Criminal Court last year.

The trial heard that the man and his ex-girlfriend had broken up on 27 occasions.

The victim described the night as “mentally torturous” and said she had been made to believe her death and the death of her unborn baby were imminent. The trial judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney said, “It was serious criminality involving a lifethreatening siege which was diffused only by the extraordinary skilled and sensitive approach by the gardaí.” He described the incident as being at the upper end of criminality, involving a dangerous hostage siege.

A CIRCUIT COURT judge has decided not to re-activate a suspended sentence in the case of an Ennis man accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Thomas Molloy (20), with an address at 12 Gordon Drive, Cloughleigh, Ennis, appeared before Ennis Circuit Court yesterday in relation to a section 99 application for an order revoking an order suspending a sentence of imprisonment.

The application arose out of a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol. A Garda told the court that Mr Molloy was twice over the legal limit when he was caught in Dublin.

The court was told that Mr Molloy appeared before Dublin Metropolitan District Court under the Road Traffic Act in relation to the incident.

The court was told that on June 8, 2009, that Mr Molloy, and three other people, pleaded guilty to affray. He received a three year suspended sentence at the time.

Counsel for Mr Molloy said his cli- ent had pleaded guilty to the charge and had co-operated perfectly with Gardaí. Referring to the charge of affray, Counsel for Molloy said he had pleaded guilty to the charge and paid compensation of € 2,000.

He added that a “considerable period” of time had elapsed between the charge of affray and the charge or driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Judge Carroll Moran said that there was no other aggravating factor other than Mr Molloy being over the limit.

He said that driving while the twice the legal limit was a serious matter it did not require the reactivation of a suspended sentence. Judge Moran referred the matter back to the Dublin District Court.

A CLARE practical joker, who posed as a businessman in an effort to convince the public that his friend was about to open a sex shop in Ennis, says he will attempt an even bigger hoax later this year, if he can come up with a suitable idea.

N i n e t e e n – y e a r old Ballyea student Michael Gavin created a fake email address, business phone number and online persona for his friend in an effort to convince the public that this friend was about to open a sex shop on O’Connell Street in Ennis.

The Clareman, who is an Economics and Finance student at the University of Limerick, posted a notice on the Clare section of boards.ie, claiming that the sex shop was to open in Ennis on St Patrick’s Day.

When contacted by journalists, Mr Gavin pretended to be a businessman and claimed to be about to open the sex shop despite the objections of the “Joe Duffy brigade”.

Speaking to The Clare People yesterday Mr Gavin said that the sex shop hoax was not even the biggest practical jokes he had pulled off recently.

“I wouldn’t say that this is my biggest hoax ever but it’s definitely up there in my top 10. I’m not planning anything specifically in the future but if I get a good enough idea I wouldn’t

rule it out in future,”

he said. “I have played

pranks like this in

the past but if I was

to talk about them

in the newspaper I

would probably get

myself into a bit off

trouble,” he added. According to Mr

Gavin, he was a

quiet and shy stu

dent and only began to plan practical jokes and seek public attention in recent years.

“In school I wasn’t a big joker, I was always very focussed on my studies and had too much respect for the teachers and the other student’s to disrupt their work,” he said.

“To be honest I haven’t a clue where I got my idea from. I knew if I put something controversial but believable [up on boards.ie] there would have been a good chance that a journalist would be looking around and find it.”

A TOTAL of 491 students from Clare have entered paintings in this year’s 57th Texaco Children’s Art Competition, the winners of which will be revealed next month.

In excess of 30,000 entries were received with students from each of the 32 counties taking part.

Judging of entries is currently taking place and winners will be announced in early-April. This will be followed by the prize-giving ceremony which takes place in May.

Pictured admiring three of the en- tries received from Clare are competition coordinator Annemarie Barnes (left) and competition adjudicator and well-known artist Dr Denise Ferran. Ms Barnes is holding a work entitled ‘In The Wild’ by 15-year-old Ryan Fleming from Ennis, a pupil at St John Bosco, Kildysart. Dr Ferran is holding a work entitled ‘Our Beautiful Coast’ by 16-year-old Michelle Clancy from Kilrush, a pupil at Kilrush Community School and another entitled ‘Beautiful Butterflies’ by 14-year-old Ashling McCann from Cranny, Kilrush, also a pupil at St John Bosco, Kildysart.

THE second highest number of complaints made to the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga came from Clare, a new report shows.

Of complaints received by Seán Ó Cuirreáin’s office 9.5 per cent came from Clare, compared to 9 per cent in Galway, 6 per cent in Kerry, 4 per cent in Donegal and 3 per cent in Mayo. The highest number of complaints (41 per cent) were made by people in Dublin.

The report looked at the level of service provided through Irish to customers by public service bodies.

The report states that in one instance, “An Coimisinéir Teanga decided, as a result of an investigation, that Iarnród Éireann was in contravention of its statutory duties in relation to certain signage erected in Ennis, County Clare.”

The report explains, “A series of complaints were made to the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga with regard to various Iarnród Éireann signs, alleging that they were not in compliance with the language requirements in signage legislation. The complaints concerned the signage at train stations, in car parks and at a new level crossing on the western route between Galway and Ennis.”

According to the report, “Based on the case put forward by Iarnród Éireann, An Coimisinéir Teanga considered it likely that these problems with the signage had arisen because of changes that had taken place over the years and because of misunderstandings in relation to the legislation.

“Iarnród Éireann indicated in its reply that ‘the signs included in the investigation are in place for many years’ (translation) and ‘generally the signage at level crossings are in English’ (translation). The investigation did not accept that either of these two arguments could be accepted as an excuse for neglecting to make the necessary corrections.

According to Mr Ó Cuireáin, “This investigation could have been avoided completely and the matter could have been dealt with on an informal basis if the public body had put its position in writing at the start.”

Despite the criticism, one Irish language activist in Ennis has welcomed efforts by Iarnród Éireann to make all signs bilingual.

Announcements on trains are now being made in Irish while upgraded signage has been placed at ticket offices, car parks and buses. The man, who did not wish to be named, said, “Another first for the town. The growing presence of Irish at Ennis station will surely contribute to the sustainability of the language through increased visibility and status.”

A NEW discount store in Shannon, which will employ 12 people, is expected to play a pivotal role in increasing business in the town centre by at least 10 per cent. That’s the prediction of the manager of SkyCourt shopping centre Pat Kelly, who said he is optimistic that Buy Lo will attract huge numbers of shoppers to the centre.

A number of businesses in SkyCourt have closed in recent months including fashion outlet Pink, Roxy Records, Cafe 2000 and Bank of Ireland. Nevertheless Mr Kelly remains optimistic about the future.

“We have 65 units open at the moment. There are 13 or 14 vacant. How many have they vacant in Ennis? 70. In the last two months alone we let a small grocery supermarket, Jen, which does ethnic foods. What I’m finding is that recently we are getting a lot of enquiries about people who are trying to start up businesses,” he said.

“It has been a difficult 12 months. Our footfall figures were only down eight per cent last year, but the spend of the customers wouldn’t be the same,” said Mr Kelly.

“We are weathering the downturn reasonably well and the decision by Buy Lo to locate here gives us great confidence for the remainder of 2011 and beyond,” he said.

Mr Kelly said that the plan to attract anchor tenant Buy Lo – which will open in SkyCourt next week – had been on the cards for the past two years.

“We were working on it for the past two years. We had to go for planning which held it up for a few months and then negotiations and then we had to fit out the store,” said Mr Kelly.

“We’d be hoping with Buy Lo we would get back the figures we had in 2006/2007; that’s about 12 or 13 per cent,” he said.

Buy Lo will occupy 65 per cent of the unit previously held by Tesco. Additional car parking has been created to the back of the premises. The entire unit has been gutted and subdivided. Repairs have been carried out to the roof, while new flooring has been put in place.

“Their [Buy Lo] prices are very reasonable. They are the Irish version of Lidl and Aldi. I’d be very confident that it will bring a lot of people from Ennis and further afield,” said Mr Kelly. “I feel that Buy Lo is going to be a great bonus for us. In the times we are in, it is ideal because it is discount products and that’s what people want,” he said.

THE circumstances surrounding the murder of mother-of-two Sylvia Roche-Kelly in Limerick in 2007 is featured in a new book which will hit the bookshelves later this week.

The case is included in a book written by The Cla re People journalist Emer Connolly. Out On Ba il focuses on crimes committed by people who are on bail, early release or temporary release. It features the human impact of crimes committed by those who are out on bail and contains particular emphasis on a number of specific cases.

Sylvia Roche-Kelly (33) was murdered by Jerry McGrath in a Limerick hotel bedroom in December 2007. McGrath, then aged 23, of Ballywalter, Cashel, County Tipperary, was on bail at the time, for assaulting a female taxi driver in Cavan earlier that year.

Another Clare case to feature in the book is the tragic deaths of teenage girls Lorna Mahoney (13) and Stacey Haugh (16) in a road accident near Carrigaholt in October 2003. David Naughton, who was then a teenager, was later jailed for six years for dangerous driving causing the deaths. However, after he was initially charged in connection with the accident, he was granted bail and disappeared. He was later tracked down in the UK. His decision to flee while on bail had a profound effect on the families of the two young girls, who waited every day for justice.

Among the other cases featured in the book is the vicious rape of a 75year-old widow in Nenagh by a man who was on bail at the time; and the murder of teacher Noel Carmody in Limerick in 2003 by two men – one who was on bail and the other who was unlawfully at large at the time. The murder of Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo in Galway in October 2007 by Gerald Barry is also featured. Barry, of Rosán Glas, Rahoon, Galway, was on bail at the time, having been charged with assaulting his ex-partner. Out On Ba il looks at the bail laws in Ireland and gives a voice to families who speak of the pain and suffering they have experienced, while gardaí involved in investigating such crimes express their frustrations at the system. Out On Ba il is Emer Connolly’s second book. Her first book, Lying Eyes a nd the Hitma n for Hire , was published in 2008. It was based on the story of Sharon Collins from Ennis, who solicited a ‘hitman’ to murder her partner, millionaire businessman PJ Howard, and his sons Robert and Niall. Both books are published by Gill & Macmillan. Out On Ba il will be available in bookshops from Friday.

DETAILS of specific aircraft that anti-war protesters believe have been linked to renditions have been formally handed over to gardaí in Clare.

Anti-war campaigners transported wheelbarrows of material to Shannon Garda Station last Friday morning in an effort to highlight the use of Shannon Airport by military aircraft.

Members of Shannonwatch brought the wheelbarrows – containing photographs and documents relating to the use of Shannon by CIA planes – from the Oakwood Arms Hotel to the local Garda Station, as part of their ongoing efforts to highlight their concerns.

They say that the evidence supports their claims and they are hoping that gardaí will now investigate alleged human rights violations and other possible breaches of international law at Shannon.

Ray Murphy of Amnesty International said there is substantial evidence to suggest that Ireland has played a role in the rendition circuit but that to-date, the gardaí have been either unwilling or unable to conduct searches and inspections.

“We need an effective reporting, verification and control system put in place immediately. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence must direct the gardaí to act to ensure Ireland complies with its international legal obligations,” said Mr Murphy.

Former United Nations Humani- tarian Co-ordinator in Iraq, Denis Halliday, emphasised the humanitarian disasters that are a direct result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Those who were complicit in these wars, including the Irish government, must be held to account,” he said.

“It is vital that the new Irish government prohibits the transit of belligerent US troops through Shannon Airport immediately, and focuses Irish foreign policy on genuine humanitarian support for victims of violence and natural disasters,” he added.

Shannonwatch is calling on the gardaí to review the evidence presented, and to provide a comprehensive report on the actions that will be taken to ensure Ireland complies with its international legal obligations.

The information presented to gardaí includes a list of aircraft that have at one time or another reportedly been linked to the US renditions programme. These include 20 that have been recorded at Shannon over the last eight years. “Some of these are frequent visitors to the airport,” said a Shannonwatch spokesperson. “And while many of them may not now be in use by CIA rendition crews, the fact that they have not been adequately investigated means that it is still possible for them or other aircraft to be used to commit breaches of international law,” added the spokesman.