Three gardaí were threatened at gunpoint yesterday by a gang which targeted five premises in Limerick city and county.
The five-man gang was finally disturbed during a break-in at a supermarket in Corbally shortly before 4.30 a.m. yesterday. It is understood the same gang had targeted business premises in Ballycummin, Ballysheedy, Rathkeale and Newcastlewest earlier that same night.
When gardaí caught up with them in Corbally, three were spotted leaving the store through a window, which they had earlier smashed.
They were armed with a machinegun, a handgun and a sawn-off shotgun, according to Garda sources. The other two gang members were waiting in a getaway vehicle, which was used to ram the Garda patrol car.
None of the gardaí, one of whom was a student, was injured in the incident. The armed gang made off in the direction of Ardnacrusha in Co Limerick with a large stock of cigarettes.
The getaway vehicle was described as a maroon Opel Vectra. The registration number had been blackened out by the gang, who all wore balaclavas.
Dangerous driver to be sentenced
A woman whose husband was killed in a dangerous-driving accident has told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that her torment was prolonged after the driver involved fled to England.
Mrs Christina O'Brien was giving evidence at the sentence hearing of James Mulhall (32), from Clondalkin, Dublin, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of her husband on January 11th, 2002.
Mr Tony O'Brien (52) died after his car, which was being driven by Mulhall, crashed into the wall of a house on the South Circular Road, Dublin, in the early hours of the morning. He had met Mulhall and his girlfriend that night at a city-centre hotel.
Judge Frank O'Donnell deferred sentencing until May 11th with Mulhall remanded in custody.
Mrs O'Brien said Mulhall had expressed no remorse to her for killing her husband of 23 years. Autopsy reports showed his alcohol level was very high and he was probably asleep in the back of the car at the time of the crash.
Mrs O'Brien said that since her husband's death she had suffered a nervous breakdown and still suffers from depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said his client wished to express his unreserved apology for what had happened.
Three years for fatal drunk driving
A man whose drunk driving caused the death of a computer programmer on his way home after celebrating his 29th birthday has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Peter Joyce (23), of Dunsink Lane, Finglas, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of a motorcyclist, Mr Kenneth Neilson, on May 6th, 2003, at Forest Grove, Swords.
Henry painting fetches €152,000
A West of Ireland painting by Paul Henry was yesterday auctioned for €152,000. Sold by De Vere's Art Auctions at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the oil on canvas, entitled Lobster Fishermen in the West of Ireland, was bought privately.