‘Disturbing’ Portlaoise cemetery brawl recalled as five appear in court
St Peter and Paul's Cemetery, Portlaoise where the brawl took place
Two men, a woman and two teenage boys were all before Portlaoise District Court last week arising from a mass brawl that took place in a Laois cemetery in May.
Their court appearances arose from an alleged major violent incident that took place in St Peter and Paul’s cemetery, Stradbally Road, Portlaoise during cemetery Sunday on 31 May.
The first case dealt with a youth who was before the court on a charge of affray.
Judge Andrew Gubbins was informed that the state was withdrawing this charge because the 17-year-old had already been dealt with under the Garda Juvenile Liaison Scheme.
The others who were before the court were Daniel McInerney (41), Jockey Farm, Luton, London, UK. He was charged with violent disorder. Gerard McInerney (38), the Unofficial Halting Site, Kilcruttin, Tullamore, Co Offaly was charged with the possession of a knife and with violent disorder. Helen Ward (35), Bay 16, Kilcruttin Halting Site, Tullamore was charged with the possession of a knife, while another 17-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, was in court charged with violent disorder and with possession a knife at the time in the cemetery.
Garda Sgt O’Sullivan said that a file has come back from the director of public prosecutions (DPP) instructing that the cases could be disposed of by summary (in the district court), subject to jurisdiction being accepted by Judge Gubbins.
Before deciding on whether to accept the cases, Judge Gubbins asked Sgt O’Sullivan to outline the allegations.
Sgt O’Sullivan said that on the day there were up to 3,000 men, women and children in the cemetery to celebrate graveyard Sunday, along with a large presence of gardaí. He said that gardaí had received intelligence that there could be a disturbance among Travellers who were gathered in groups in the graveyard.
He said that tensions were high and that Daniel McInerney was allegedly highly aggressive and had to be pepper sprayed.
He said the juvenile before the court was allegedly seen to be in possession of a knife and on seeing gardaí approach, ran off and dropped it on the ground where it was recovered.
Sgt O’Sullivan said that Helen Ward was allegedly caught in possession of a retractable knife.
“Overall, it was a very serious public order incident. Two other men were assaulted while another person received a slash to their face. None of those in court today were connected to these incidents,” said Sgt O’Sullivan.
He said: “There was a very large number of people present on the day. A lot of young and old people left in distress by what they had witnessed, which was very disturbing.” Solicitor for the defendants Aengus McCarthy urged Judge Gubbins to accept jurisdiction in the case.
Judge Gubbins said he was refusing to accept the cases and remanded all the defendants on continuing bail to the 23 November sitting of the court for the service of books of evidence.
Bail conditions were imposed on all four defendants setting out that each sign on three times a week at the local garda station, they stay away from four named individuals and refrain from contacting the four named individuals by any means, including by social media.
Mr McCarthy asked the signing condition to be relaxed for Gerard McInerney, whose son is getting married in Scotland on 12 January and his client would be back in Ireland on 21 January.
Judge Gubbins temporarily lifted the signing on condition for Gerard McInerney until 22 January.
Mr McCarthy said that the juvenile in the case has no previous convictions and asked that the judge accept jurisdiction in this case, to which he agreed and remanded him on continuing bail to the 2 November sitting of the court and for him to consider if he wished to enter a guilty or not guilty plea to the charges on that date.
