The manager of the Courts Service for the Western Region is to visit Carndonagh Courthouse to asses its future.

Mr. Brendan Mc Donald is to engage with local solicitors, respond on alternative court locations and the return of court sittings to the building.

Local county councillor Albert Doherty says it is a priority requirement for local legal services and the local business sector to have court sittings returned to the Carndonagh Courthouse.

He said “The nature and extent of the repairs and refurbishment required at the courthouse must be established and works expedited at the earliest opportunity.

“The OPW must ensure commitment and completion of the works and allow court business to return to the convenient and central location that is Carndonagh.

“It is incumbent also, on the public representatives to prioritise and support the restoration works at the courthouse.

“I am confident that this message will be relayed to the regional manager of the Western courts service by all the solicitors in Carndonagh and its environs.

“The early return of District Court services to Carndonagh Courthouse must remain a priority for all local stakeholders and the local community in North Inishowen.”

A man caught in possession of a machete and a bill hook has been refused bail after a court heard he is making his nieces’ lives hell.

Danny Connors Snr appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with possession of an offensive weapon.

Gardai told the court that they caught the accused ‘red-handed’ with the items at his home at Canal Road in Letterkenny, Co Donegal on March 31st last.

Garda Sgt Jim Collins said he was objecting to bail on a number of grounds.

The accused man’s niece said Mr Connors had made her life and the lives of her two sisters a living hell since their father died eleven years ago.

She told a hushed courtroom “I feel that they’re out to kill me and my two sisters. We have had to run through fields and through windows to get away from them.

“Every time they drink they threaten to kill us. I feel intimidated.

“I’m a carer for my sick mother and these boys just won’t stay out of our lives.”

Solicitor for Mr Connors, Michael Shiel asked Judge Kelly if he would consider a cash bail and an undertaking that Connors would stay away from the women.

Having heard the evidence, Judge Paul Kelly refused bail in the case because that evidence was not challenged.

He said the refusal was because of the potential fear and intimidation of witnesses.

A man who abused Gardai in a pub claimed he got drunk after not getting any sleep after attending an all-night wake.

Chris Bonner, of Convoy in Co Donegal appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with a public order offence.

The court was told the 45-year-old father-of-two was drinking in Rosie’s Bar in Drumkeen when Gardai arrived at the premises.

Bonner became aggressive with Gardai and asked them if they had nothing better to do before telling them to “f*** off.”

Gardai asked Bonner to desist but his tirade of abuse continued before Bonner called the Gardai “c****” and was arrested.

His solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client was the worse for wear after going without sleep having stayed up all night at a family wake.

Mr Gallagher said “As is the custom in these parts, he stayed up all night at the wake. He had been drinking at the meal after the funeral.”

The court was told that Bonner of Aughyalt, Convoy had a number of previous convictions.

He is now working as a labourer o building sites in Dublin.

Judge Paul Kelly said he was ordering Bonner to pay €150 to Letterkenny Youth and Community Project in lieu of getting another conviction.

A decision on a Garda file into the murder of former Sinn Féin member and British agent Denis Donaldson is expected to be taken by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the coming weeks.

Mr Donaldson, 55, was shot dead at a remote cottage on the outskirts of Glenties  in April 2006.

He had been living there since being exposed as an MI5 agent the previous year.

An inquest into Mr Donaldson’s death was adjourned for the 20th time today (Wed) at Letterkenny Coroner’s Court.

Garda Superintendent Michael Finan told the court that the file on the murder is both “substantial and complex” but said it is “nearing completion.”

“A decision will be made on it in the coming weeks,” he said.

The late Denis Donaldson

He applied to have a short adjournment in the case or up to six weeks.

The inquest had previously been adjourned on 31 August 2016 after a person was charged with the alleged withholding of information about the death.

On that occasion, Supt Michael Finan applied to have the inquest adjourned under Section 25.1 of the Coroner’s Act.

Coroner Dr Denis McCauley said that because criminal proceedings were due to take place, the inquest was put on hold to allow these proceedings to take place.

However, another judgment in the High Court on 23 November 2017 in favour of a Michael Sweeney, meant that gardaí could not take proceedings against the person involved in the Denis Donaldson case.

This case is being appealed to the Supreme Court and could take up to a year to be heard, the coroner’s court was told.

If the High Court decision is overturned then criminal proceedings can be re-entered in the case.

Supt Finan told the court that a “substantial file” on the Donaldson case was finally sent to the DPP on 31 July last for consideration but this is the file which is expected to be ready shortly.

The court was told that the Donaldson family have been kept informed of developments and are due to meet with gardaí next month to be briefed on the case.

A letter from Mr Donadlson’s family by the solicitor Madden and Finucane was referred to by the coroner.

The letter said that as another adjournment was expected in the case to allow for the decision of the DPP, they would not be attending but asked to be informed of the next date when the case is adjourned to.

Coroner Dr McCauley adjourned the inquest until May 8th for mention.

A Donegal pub-owner has appeared in court charged with breaking the licensing laws – for the 26th time.

Martin Coyle, of the Village Inn in Kerrykeel, appeared before Letterkenny District Court charged with permitting liquor to be consumed on his premises after hours.

The court heard Gardai called to the pub at 2.25am on January 25th, 2018 and found six people inside the pub who were drinking.

Garda Sgt Gerard Dalton told the court that Coyle had 25 previous convictions under the Licensing Act going back over recent years.

Judge Paul Kelly asked “There are a lot of them. Have Gardai never objected to the license being renewed?”

He then asked Gardai if they knew if there was a custodial sentence for breaking the licensing laws and was told there was not.

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Kieran Dillon, told the court that on this particular occasion there was a pool competition in the bar and that the team from the Village Inn had been playing in the tournament and stayed on in the bar.

He said that the bar trade was bleak especially in the winter months and that publicans were trying their best to make a living.

Judge Kelly added that Mr Coyle’s future will be a lot bleaker if he does not have a bar license.

Solicitor Dillon added that his client was heavily involved in the local community and asked the Judge to be as lenient as he could.

Judge Kelly fined Mr Coyle €1,000.

A brave Donegal woman waived her anonymity to tell a court how her father raped her each week while her mother was out of the house.

Maurice Lafferty, 50, of Corcullen, Castlefin pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping his daughter Annie Lafferty at his home on dates between 1 November 2010 and 30 June 2011.

Garda Sergeant Joe Dorian told Paul Carroll SC, prosecuting, that the accused’s wife worked in Letterkenny and lived away from the home four nights a week during the period of offending.

RTE reports that Sgt Dorian said that on a night in November 2010, Lafferty came into his then 17-year-old daughter’s bedroom. “You’re my good little girl, you’re the only one I can trust,” Lafferty said to her.

He started to grope her and said he wanted to “show how much I love you”. His daughter tried to push him away and he called her “a tramp” before pinning her on the bed and raping her.

Afterwards, he told her not to tell anyone about what he had done. Lafferty said that no one would believe her and that her younger siblings would be taken away if she said anything.

Sgt Dorian said that Lafferty continued to rape his daughter once per week.

Ms Lafferty, 25, told the court she wished to waive her right to anonymity.

In her victim impact statement, which she read out in court, she said her parents were more interested in drinking than being parents and she took over caring for her younger siblings.

Ms Lafferty said “to say I was scared is an understatement” during the period she was abused by her father. She said that “instead of protecting me, he was the one who did me harm”.

“My cry for help was ignored”, said Ms Lafferty. She said she told her mother about the abuse, only for her mother to turn her back on her and believe her father’s version of events.

She said he was the one who decided what she did and “it was like I was a puppet attached to strings”. She said the “scars that man left on me will always be there”.

Anne Rowland SC, defending, said her client was “drinking extremely heavily” at the time of the offences.

She said he suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which causes him to “black out” during fits of extreme coughing.

Ms Rowland said that Lafferty built his house himself and it is about to be repossessed.

Mr Justice Alex Owens remanded Lafferty on continuing bail and adjourned the matter for sentencing on 29 April next.

A man who tried to steal from women’s handbags in two different nightclubs has appeared in court.

Piotr Zemlik appeared at Letterkenny District Court to face the charge of attempted theft.

Garda Sgt Gerard Dalton told the court that on December 12th, 2016 there were two complaints that a man had attempted to steal from two handbags at Voodoo Nightclub in Letterkenny.

The accused was identified and seen on CCTV footage with his hand in the handbags but no items were taken.

On the second occasion, Zemlick, of The Grange, Letterkenny was witnessed unclipping a woman’s handbag after she had left it on a table.

A total of €60 and a passport was taken just after 2am on February 16th, 2017 at the Pulse Nightclub in Letterkenny.

The passport or the cash were not recovered, the court was told.

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client was extremely drunk and had no recollection of the incidents.

He is a 40-year-old married father-of-two and the court was told that he already has 24 previous convictions for various offences including handling stolen goods.

Mr Gallagher said his client had no excuse but that he was asking the court not to impose a custodial sentence on his client.

Judge Paul Kelly adjourned the case until June 10th to allow for a community service and probation report.

A woman secretly recorded a family meeting at which she confronted her brother about raping her when they were children, a court has heard.

Excerpts of the audio recording on the woman’s phone were played to a Central Criminal Court jury during the 43-year-old man’s trial last month.

In the recording, he expressed apologies to his sister but did not make admissions.

The Donegal man, who cannot be named to protect the woman’s anonymity, had pleaded not guilty to four charges of anal rape, one of oral rape and one of sexual assault at the family home in the north-west between May 1991 and June 1993.

The Irish Examiner reports that after a trial in March a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all charges. The man has no previous convictions.

Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC submitted that though the man accepted the jury had returned verdicts and that he must live by them, he was making no admissions to the crimes.

A local garda told Pauline Walley SC, prosecuting, that the man abused his sister when he was in his mid-teens and she was aged between ten and 12 years. He committed the crimes in the family home while their parents were out working.

The garda said the woman made her garda statement in 2015 after tensions between her brother and other family members went unresolved.

The garda said the family found out about the allegations following a confrontation between the woman, her brother and his wife in early 2013.

For full story see https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/donegal-man-convicted-of-raping-his-sister-when-they-were-children-to-be-sentenced-in-may-917162.html

A father of three who was caught speeding at 163kph with his three children in the back has been warned his driving could have had tragic consequences.

Paul Conaghan appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with dangerous driving.

Conaghan, of Rough Park, Letterkenny, had been stopped by Gardai who detected him driving at 163kph in a 100kph zone on the N13 at Dromore outside Letterkenny on February 25th last.

Garda Michael Kilcoyne said he detected the car speeding around 5pm and then followed it after activating the flashing lights on his Garda car.

He eventually caught up with the driver and found he had three children on board.

He told Gardai that his speeding was irresponsible saying he was simply in a hurry.

Solicitor for the accused, Frank Dorian, said his client had no previous convictions and did not even have a penalty point.

Judge Paul Kelly said Conaghan’s speeding could have had disastrous consequences and the accused said he had now learned a lesson.

Judge Kelly reduced the charge form dangerous driving to careless driving and fined Conaghan, aged 37, €250.

A Donegal man who bit a garda’s hand as he was being arrested in a melee displayed “incredible strength” during the violent struggle, a court has heard.

One garda said Niall Sweeney (31) showed a level of strength he “did not think was possible” for a man of his build, while pepper spray had no effect on him.

Earlier, Sweeney had threatened to shoot a bouncer when he and friends were asked to leave. It had been his first night out drinking in 10 years.

Judge John Hughes jailed him for three months and suspended another two.

Sweeney, a truck driver and father-of-two from Co Donegal, had admitted the threat to kill but pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Garda Kevin Meaney, as well as public order offences.

He was found guilty on all counts.

For full story see https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/pubgoer-jailed-for-biting-garda-and-threatening-to-shoot-bouncer-38015346.html

A man charged with the murder of a young Donegal woman has been sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

Richard Burke appeared at Letterkenny District Court today where he was served with a book of evidence.

Burke, from Forest Park in Killygordon, is charged in connection with the murder of his partner Jasmine McMonagle in Killygordon in January.

Detective Sgt Michael Galvin told the court that he served a book of evidence on the 27 year old accused earlier today.

Garda Sgt Gerard Dalton said the Director of Public Prosecutions has consented to send the accused forward for trial at the Central Criminal Court on April 29th next.

Barrister Gareth McGrory asked for a second counsel to be appointed and also to allow for a psychiatric report to be carried out on the accused.

Burke, dressed in blue jeans and a wine-coloured shirt, nodded during the brief court appearance but did not speak.

The case was adjourned until April 29th to the Central Criminal Court.

The late Jasmine McMonagle.

A jilted man who could not accept the end of his relationship brutally attacked his girlfriend and then sent her a series of vile text messages.

Kieran Callaghan poured drinks over Martina Mulhern, headbutted her and then harassed by sending a number of threatening text messages to her.

Callaghan, aged 34, appeared at Letterkenny District Court to allow Judge Paul Kelly to hear a victim impact statement from Ms Mulhern.

Although the relationship was brief, 33-year-old Callaghan could not accept the break-up and approached Ms MUlhern while out on a number of occasions.

On July 2nd, 2017 in the Warehouse Bar, he approached her on two occasions and poured two drinks over her head.

On July 17th, Ms Mulhern was socialising in the Voodoo Nightclub in Letterkenny when she was approached by Callaghan.

He headbutted the woman causing her swelling and bruising to her face.

Callaghan, of Garrison Hill in Killygordon, also admitted sending a series of disgusting text messages to his former girlfriend.

Garda Inspector Barry Doyle said the text messages were very offensive and included “F*** you tramp. You rotten piece of s***. I hope you die a painful one”, “You are a pathetic lowlife scumbag I never loved you” and “I hope you fall off a cliff.”

The court was told that Callaghan had previously appeared in court for breaking a window in Ms Mulhern’s home in Ardara on the night he poured drinks over her head

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Frank Dorrian, said Callaghan had tendered an apology to Ms Mulhern and that it was sincere.

He said his client had been distraught and had experienced emotions of hopelessness and despair after the couple’s break-up.

Judge Paul Kelly described Ms Mulhern’s victim impact statement as “powerful” and said the attacks had had a very serious impact on her life.

Details of Ms Mulhern’s statement were not read out in court but the court heard she had to undergo counselling as a result of the vicious attack by Callaghan.

As well as treatment for being physically injured, Ms Mulhern was also left out of work.

The total cost of having her glasses smashed as well as counselling and other treatment, Ms Callaghan was out of pocket in the sum of almost €1,200.

A further loss of earnings for her time of work amounted to a total of €29,498.

Judge Paul Kelly told Ms Mulhern that the maximum the district court could award in compensation was €15,000 and suggested she take a civil case against her attacker.

He granted an order of €1,170 against Callaghan to be paid to the victim in the case.

He fined Callaghan €250 for pouring drinks over Ms Mulhern at the Warehouse Bar in Letterkenny.

He then sentenced Callaghan to four months in prison for assaulting Ms Mulhern by headbutting her but suspended that sentence for two years.

He jailed him for a further period of four months for harassing Ms Mulhern by sending her threatening texts but also suspended that sentence for two years.

He also ordered him to attend a 12-month course in Sligo entitled Men Overcoming Emotional Violence and to refrain from drinking alcohol.

A woman has appeared in court charged with the theft of €20,000 from an 83-year-old woman.

Marjorie Gallagher appeared at Falcarragh District Court charged with the theft of the cash from Bridget McLaughlin of Meenmore in Dungloe, Co Donegal.

Ms Gallaghed, aged 56, from Maghery, Dungloe, was charged with four separate counts of theft of €5,000 from the elderly woman.

The thefts are alleged to have happened between January 1st 2016 and April 9th, 2018 in Dungloe.

The court was told that Mrs Gallagher was arrested at Letterkenny Garda station at High Road earlier today but did not reply when the three charges were put to her.

She appeared in court with a number of family members.

The court was told by Inspector Seamus McGonigle that the Director of Public Prosecutions has agreed for the case to go forward to the circuit court for trial.

Solicitor Patsy Gallagher asked for the case to be adjourned to Dungloe District Court on June 11th for a book of evidence.

He said Ms Gallagher was attending hospital and asked if she could be excused from appearing on that date.

Judge Paul Kelly agreed and adjourned the case.

A student has appeared in court charged with dangerous driving causing the death of a father of three in Co Donegal.

Cyclist Noel McDermott was killed when he was struck by a car at Ardsbeg, Gortahork on January 26th, 2018.

Student Liam Cannon appeared at Falcarragh District Court today where he was charged in connection with Mr McDermott’s death.

He was also charged with having no insurance on the date of the crash.

The court was told that Cannon is currently on an internship on a J1 visa in America and had returned for the court appearance.

Solicitor Frank Dorrian said his client, aged 32 of Derryconnor, Gortahork, had returned from America in good faith to answer the charges against him.

The late Noel McDermott. RIP.

Garda Inspector Seamus McGonigle said he had no objection to bail but was seeking some form of assurance in the case.

Judge Paul Kelly sought a personal bail bond of €500 from Cannon and an independent surety of a further €500 from the accused man’s mother Eileen.

The case was adjourned for the service of a book of evidence to June 19th next.

Originally from Letterkenny but living in Gortahork, Mr McDermott was an active member of Errigal Cycling Club and had been an active member of St Eunan’s GAA Club in Letterkenny.

A man has been fined after attacking a heart patient in a row over dog poo.

Trevor Orr appeared at Falcarragh District Court charged with attacking Don Mooney at his home in Ramelton, Co Donegal on February 2nd, 2017.

The court heard there had been bad blood between the pair amidst claims that the accused man’s brother Michael had washed dog poo into the yard of Mr Mooney.

Mr Mooney told how he left his home to visit his father but returned as he forgot his keys and found both Orr and his brother Michael on his property.

He told them to get off his land and Michael Orr pulled away his brother but Trevor struck out and struck Mr Money in the chest.

He called the Gardai and then an ambulance as he was a heart patient and had undergone extensive treatment for the past fifteen years.

He said that while in the ambulance he passed out and was admitted to Letterkenny University Hospital but was released later that day.

Victim Don Mooney was attacked. Pic by Northwest Newspix.

Mr Mooney’s daughter Kim took pictures which showed severe bruising on her father’s chest.

However, solicitor for Orr, Mr Frank Dorrian, said there had been no mention of the bruising in the medical report.

Mr Mooney told Judge Paul Kelly that there had been an ongoing disagreement between himself and Michael Orr after he allegedly washed dog poo down onto his property.

Both the environmental health section of the local council and the Gardai had been made aware of this.

Mr Mooney said “I’ve more to be bothered with keeping healthy. I just want an easy life and to be left alone. I’m not going to let people wash dog excrement onto my street which I keep very tidy,” he said.

The court was told that Mooney’s partner is a sister of the Orr brothers.

Both Michael and Trevor Orr took to the witness stand but both emphatically denied that any such incident had taken place at all.

They admitted that there had been ongoing tensions between the two parties but said no assault had ever taken place.

Judge Kelly said the combination of all the evidence was sufficient to prove the events.

On the matter of the bruising to Mr Mooney, Judge Kelly said that it is often the case that bruising does not appear for hours or even days after an event.

He found Orr, a 43-year-old baker from Leitir, Kilmacrennan, guilty of assault causing harm and fined him €250.

Two men have been remanded in custody after Gardai raided a house in Co Donegal and found a range of stolen passports, false identity cards and stolen driving licenses.

The men were part of a group of three people arrested on Tuesday morning when Gardai raided a rented house in Letterkenny.

The third man was today released without charge.

The two men who appeared at a special sitting of Letterkenny District Court are both Romanian nationals.

Evidence and reasons for objections to bail was given by officers from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, Detective Garda Stephen Kelly and Detective Garda Paulina Szramozski.

Legal representatives for both men, barrister Sean Magee and solicitor Kieran O’Gorman applied for bail which was objected to by Gardai.

Having heard the bail applications, Judge Paul Kelly turned down both applications.

He said he was refusing the applications on a number of grounds including the seriousness of the charges, the likelihood of both reoffending and the possibility that they could leave the jurisdiction.

The first man charged was Ioan Barbuc, aged 25 of Glenoughty Close in Letterkenny.

He was charged with four offences including having articles used to make forged documents and possession of a stolen UK driver’s license.

He was also charged with possession of a stolen Irish passport and also the possession of a forged Romanian National Identity card.

The second man, Andrei Ciocan, aged 31, also of Glenoughty Close, appeared on six charges.

They included handling stolen property namely €1,100 in cash, possession of a stolen UK driver’s license and having possession of a forged Romanian Identity card.

He was also charged with having possession of a forged Romanian driving license, possession of a forged Romanian Identity card as well as possession of a stolen Irish passport, Public Services Card and driving license.

Judge Kelly remanded both men to appear by videolink to Letterkenny District Court next Thursday, April 25th when directions by the DPP are expected to be given in both cases.

A bus driver who collected dozens of schoolchildren each day had 49 defects on his vehicle including seven which were classed as ‘dangerous.’

Martin Hewitt appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal facing a number of charges after his bus was inspected by Gardai.

It followed concerns expressed by the Road Safety Authority that they had been made aware of a defective bus which was doing school runs.

Garda Sgt Vincent Muldoon said that on February 22nd, last year he went to Murlog National School in Lifford and saw 30 schoolchildren getting off a bus.

He spoke to the driver Martin Hewitt and informed him the RSA wanted the bus to be inspected at a local garage in Letterkenny.

Sgt Muldoon told the court that having tested the vehicle, mechanics found a total of 49 defects of which seven were classed as “dangerous.”

These included an emergency door which would not open properly as well as the floor which he said “moved.”

The court heard that Hewitt has bought the bus for £3,000 Stg in Northern Ireland a few months earlier and it was covered by a test of roadworthiness.

Solicitor for Hewitt, Donough Cleary, said this test had expired in January and that Hewitt had brought the bus to McDaid’s Garage in Letterkenny who outlined a number of areas of work which needed to be completed.

He said his client accepted that the work should have been done and that he should have tested the vehicle as soon as he brought it across the border into Donegal.

He said the bus has since been scrapped.

Hewitt did not have any contracts with Bus Eireann for school runs but carried out the bus run for children who did not qualify for free school transport in the area.

He had been running such a service for 12 years.

However, Judge Paul Kelly said what Hewitt, a father of four of Clonleigh Park Lifford, was doing was dangerous.

“It seems extraordinary that this bus was allowed on the road. He was driving for close to two months without a certificate of roadworthiness to collect schoolchildren. It was a very dangerous situation,” he said.

He fined Hewitt €250.

A Creeslough businessman has been ordered to pay back €4,177 in a debtor settlement.

Danny Lafferty appeared at Falcarragh Civil Court where an order for the outstanding sum to Emmet J Gleeson was made against him.

Mr Lafferty said he had been a director of the company, Lafferty’s of Creeslough Ltd, which owed the debt but that the company had gone into liquidation in June, 2013.

Acting on behalf of Emmet J Gleeson, solicitor Frank Dorrian asked if Mr Lafferty still ran a supermarket.

Mr Lafferty replied that he did at one stage but that the company had gone into liquidation and was not now open.

Judge Paul Kelly viewed both Mr Lafferty’s statement of means and asked if he was willing to make an offer to the company to pay back the debt.

Mr Lafferty said he simply could not afford it.

Commenting on the couple’s food costs, Judge Kelly said that €200 a week for food seemed like “quite a lot.”

Mr Lafferty said he put €100 into a jug and his wife did the same each week for expenses.

Judge Kelly made an order for Mr Lafferty to pay €10 per week on the debt.

A wealthy Donegal businessman said he was left flabbergasted when a pony he bought in Co Sligo arrived at his home in Majorca.

Sean Ewing told Sligo Circuit Court that he had an agreement with Michael Kearins to buy two ponies – a grey and a skewbald – for his two daughters.

However, RTE reports that when the ponies arrived at the stables, the skewbald was a completely different animal to the one he and his family had viewed in Ireland.

The jury in the trial of Mr Kearins, who has pleaded not guilty to deception in relation to the sale of one of the ponies, was shown video footage recorded by the Ewings of Mrs Ewing and her daughters riding the pony known as Buddy at an arena in Claremorris, Co Mayo, prior to agreeing to buy both ponies.

Before the video was shown at Sligo Circuit Court, Mr Kearins’ barrister, Patrick O’Sullivan, told the jury that the defence completely accepted that the pony viewed by the Ewings in August 2012 was not the same pony sent out to Majorca; it was a different pony.

The pony viewed was a skewbald called Buddy, but the pony sent out was called Spot, he said.

Mr Ewing said that it was preposterous to suggest that they would have agreed to take a similar pony to Buddy.

They had gone to view him three times because safety was of the utmost importance to him and his wife in relation to their daughters, who aged were eight and ten at the time.

They wanted to ensure that the temperament of the pony was suitable for children and he said they had gone around Ireland looking at ponies because it was critical to them to get it right.

Mr Ewing detailed the physical differences between Buddy and Spot and said that while Buddy was muscular and athletic, the pony they got was frail, looked undernourished and was certainly not fit.

The trial at Slicontinuesit Court continues today.

For full report see https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0327/1038959-sligo-pony-sale-trial/

A man who wrote ‘IRA’ in large letters on a Garda station cell with his own faeces has been jailed for a total of eight months.

Joseph Colhoun appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with a series of offences.

The charges included assaulting Gardai, damaging a van, damaging a Garda cell, breaking neighbour’s windows, being intoxicated and assault.

The offences all happened between last September and February of this year when Colhoun’s addiction to alcohol spiralled out of control.

The court was told by Colhoun’s solicitor Frank Dorrian that his client had lost so many people who had meant so much to him.

He initially lost his mother in 2012 to cancer and she had been his guiding light.

However, the loss of his brother and then his father Ruby following two separate tragedies when they both drowned in the same stretch of the River Mourne was too much for him to take.

Mr Dorrian said “He has been on a collision course and his ideation in recent times has been very dark and unwelcome and he has attempted self-harm.”

However, he added that since being in custody he has tried to turn his life around and has been attending bereavement counselling and plans to attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre when he gets out of prison.

“He had been utterly and hopelessly out of control but he is a different man today. He is genuinely contrite and is in a better frame of mind,” he added.

Garda Sgt Gerard Dalton outlined the litany of offences against the father-of-four of Beechwood Grove, Lifford who already had 43 previous convictions before these charges.

The first offence happened on September 1st last year when he was caught swinging a hammer above his head outside his former partner’s house.

Gardai arrived and tried to calm him down but he became violent and struck one of them with his head and threatened to bite and headbutt another when arrested.

When taken to Letterkenny Gada station he smeared the letters IRA in large writing on the cell wall with his faeces.

He was also charged with breaking into a local psychiatric institution where his brother was being treated on March 4th last and then attacking a stranger’s van causing €1,691 worth of damage for no reason.

On February 17th he attacked staff at Daly’s Filling Station in Lifford because they would not serve him alcohol at 5.30am.

A letter written by Colhoun was handed into Judge Paul Kelly to read.

Passing sentence and jailing Colhoun for eight months, Judge Kelly remarked “I hear where you are coming from but the number of offences you have committed, the injury and damage you have caused to a number of people has made it impossible for me to deal with this in any other way than with a custodial sentence.

“I will leave you some hope for the future when you do get out.”