Man (23) appears in court in connection with shooting incident at Ennis halting site

Gordon Deegan

A 23-year-old Dublin man has appeared in court concerning three shots allegedly fired at a caravan in an Ennis halting site last week.

At Ennis District Court on Friday, Johnny Donovan of Bay 3, Rathmichael, Shankill, Co Dublin appeared in connection with four charges arising from the shooting incident at Ballaghboy halting site, Quin Rd, Ennis on Thursday, May 29th last.

At a contested bail hearing, Det Garda Aoife O’Malley told the court that there had been unrest all week due to tensions between certain families at Ballaghboy halting site with gardai responding to multiple incidents.

Det Garda O’Malley said that additional gardaí have been deployed to police the situation and she said that the shooting incident took place only 10 minutes after the Garda Armed Unit (ASU) had left the scene.

Det Garda O’Malley said that the alleged shooting showed blatant disregard for An Garda Síochána.

She said that the fire-arm has not yet been recovered.

Det Garda O’Malley said that it will be alleged that on May 29th last, “Johnny Donovan while travelling in a grey BMW jeep entered Ballaghboy halting site, Quin Rd, Ennis and accompanied by a second male produced a hand-gun and fired three indiscriminate shots at a caravan in the first bay”.

No person was shot but Det Garda O’Malley said that two people were present in the bay at the time of the shooting.

She said that one of the two took a video which captures her running to a vehicle to take cover and captures three gunshots.

Det Garda O’Malley said that no persons are identified in the video.

She said that a Garda Scenes of Crime Unit examined the scene and found one caravan had three bullet holes while one spent bullet was found inside the caravan.

Det Garda O’Malley said that Mr Donovan is facing three charges of criminal damage of property at Ballaghboy and a fourth under the Firearms and Weapons act concerning use of a hurley or a stick.

Det Garda O’Malley said there is a possibility that more serious charges are to follow and Judge Alec Gabbett described the charges before the court as holding charges.

The detective said that evidence gathered confirmed that a shooting incident did occur.

She said that the video of the alleged shootings showed that a viable firearm capable of causing death of serious harm was used.

Det Garda O’Malley said that Garda seized the jeep allegedly used in the shooting and found a hurley, a pitch fork, an axe and small bottles filled with accelerants.

She said that Mr Donovan - who, she said, has family links to Co Clare - is first cousins of the partners of the injured parties in this case.

“They are all very well known to each other and until recently would have been very friendly with each other," she said.

Solicitor for Mr Donovan, John Casey applied for bail stating that Mr Donovan was willing not to enter Clare as part of his bail conditions.

However, Judge Gabbett refused bail and remanded Mr Donovan in custody to Limerick prison to appear in court next Wednesday via video link.