GARDAÍ SEARCHED several properties and lands in Clare and Limerick yesterday as part of their investigation into a grenade attack in Ennis on Saturday from which a family had a lucky escape.
Detectives searched several houses in the Cloughleigh area of Ennis, including one which was petrol bombed last week and where a man known to be associated with criminal activity in Limerick had been living. Gardaí also raided properties in Limerick city while sniffer dogs were used to search lands near Ennis.
The Ennis woman whose home and family were targeted in the early morning incident, denied claims that she knew an attack was imminent and that she and her children were not in the house at the time.
Expectant mother of six Julieann McDonagh (32), whose children are aged between 15 months and 7 years, said yesterday: “What they said on the radio is very upsetting and wrong. We were in the house when the window was broken. When we heard the noise I went downstairs with my husband and found the broken glass but we couldn’t find anything else. Then I got my children and my sister-in-law helped me take them to a relative’s house. I was afraid they were going to come back and throw a petrol bomb in.
“I went back to my house and the guards were there. Christy [her husband] and a guard were in the kitchen when I walked in and they turned around and said ‘clear the house’. We got out quickly and Christy told me there was a bomb in there. I am very upset that people would say we weren’t in the house. That would mean I was telling lies.”
A Garda spokesperson said: “A lot of things are still unclear about the incident. We are examining all the circumstances.”
The live hand grenade thrown into the home at Childers’ Road shortly after 4am on Saturday failed to detonate but was viable.