Swords were used in a feud-related riot on a midlands estate, writes Conor Lally
THE PITCHED battle between rival Traveller factions witnessed on a local authority housing estate in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, arose because a bet on a bare knuckle boxing match went unpaid.
The debt owed by the Nevins to the Dinnegans led to growing tensions between the extended families, both of whom are based in Mullingar. The Dinnegans called in the Quinn-McDonaghs from Finglas, Dublin, for back-up.
The opposing factions gathered in two groups on the afternoon of July 29th, 2008, on the Dalton Park estate, where many of the opposing Dinnegan and Nevin families reside.
As the crowds gathered, local residents not caught up in the feud began to panic, and rang the Garda emergency 999 line.
Uniform officers poured into the area. They had no prior warning that a gang fight was planned, and were unprepared.
Hopelessly outnumbered, and with scores of the rioters armed, the gardaí set about keeping the factions apart in a successful bid to prevent serious injury or death.
The violence kicked off after an act of incitement by the leader of the Nevin family, 55-year-old Christy “Ditzy” Nevin.
He came out of a house and walked towards the Dinnegans and McDonaghs. A few words were exchanged before “Ditzy” Nevin dropped his trousers and exposed his buttocks, signalling the start of the ensuing madness.
Video footage of the incident shown in court yesterday showed over 100 people, including a number of women, armed with rocks and a variety of weapons.
The factions went at each other for about 30 minutes. Unarmed gardaí managed to create a cordon about 30 metres wide between the two groups, who threw rocks and weapons at each other over the heads of the gardaí.
Rioters could be clearly seen armed with hatchets, swords, baseball bats and other bats with metal spikes affixed at one end. Pitchforks, shovels, golf clubs and hockey sticks were also plentiful.
One faction had organised a supply of rocks so they could continually pelt their opponents.
One woman could be seen bringing a large holdall bag full of rocks into one section of the crowd and emptying the contents on the ground. The bag was taken away and the woman reappeared a little later with a fresh supply.
At one point a shopping trolley was used to maintain the supply of projectiles into one of the factions. Some men simply threw their weapons through the air at the opposing faction.
Uniform gardaí with batons drawn eventually corralled one of the groups into a corner of the estate. The fighting ended as the other faction retreated over a wall into the back garden of a house.
A number of men went into the kitchen of the property and passed drinks to associates, some of whom could be seen limping, checking their injuries and shaking hands with each other.
Two ambulances, a fire brigade and countless Garda riot vans were parked in the estate while the riot raged. Apart from footage of one middle-aged man being led away by paramedics, there was no evidence captured on camera of serious injury.
The footage shown yesterday was recorded from the Garda helicopter and by one resident on a hand-held camera from an upstairs bedroom of a house on the estate. The rioters made no effort to conceal their identities.
The 64 people before the court yesterday were charged after being identified using the video evidence – some of which was posted on YouTube, apparently by one of the Travellers who recorded it.