Gardai hunt thug at centre of ‘violent' feud after petrol bomb attack & Gucci Gang clashes amid ‘more control' bid
GARDAI are hunting for a young associate of dead hitman Glen O'Toole who is at the centre of a dangerous feud as he and his pals attempt to take over Mr Flashy's patch.
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Gardai are seeking an associate of dead hitman Glen O'Toole
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The thug and his pals are attempting to take over Mr Flashy's patch
The man's home was
He and his friend are aligned to major
This mob has previously been embroiled in a dispute with
But Ward and his younger brother Eric O'Driscoll
Read more in News
The petrol bombing and failed pipe bomb attacks this month happened after the Fitzgerald-linked mob stole electric motorbikes from another rival crew.
He previously was closely linked to Glen O'Toole, a hitman who took his own life in
The hood later lost another close pal, Shane Fowler, who died in May 2018, after he crashed his motorbike into a pole while armed on his way to a planned hit on Mr Flashy.
Most read in the Irish Sun
A source said: 'This individual is one of the main criminals involved in the feud.
'Taking him out of the situation will give gardai more control on the overall feud and help prevent any further violence.'
RAID RESULTS
Gardai hit both sides of the feud in eight separate raids days after the latest attacks earlier this month .
They seized a pump-action shotgun, four motorcycles, €10,000 in cannabis, heroin worth €4,200, a tracking device and a number of phones.
More officers from the Armed Support Unit have been posted to the area as part of ongoing efforts to curb the dispute.
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Sunday World
33 minutes ago
- Sunday World
Woman spat at Penneys staff after becoming ‘abusive and very threatening', court told
Sgt Enda Daly, in presenting the State's case, said Kathleen Delaney suddenly became 'abusive and very threatening' towards security and the manager of Penneys. Kathleen Delaney was ordered to engage with probation services for the purposes of a restorative justice report. Kathleen Delaney spat at both the manager and security personnel of Penneys in Longford town after becoming "abusive and very threatening", a court was told. A woman who was in the grip of a 'chaotic lifestyle' spat at the manager and security guard of a midlands based department store after becoming "abusive and very threatening' towards its staff, a court has heard. Kathleen Delaney, of Midland Court, Longford appeared at a sitting of Longford District Court where she pleaded guilty to assault and using threatening or insulting behaviour during an incident at Penneys, Longford Centre, Longford on August 15, 2022. Delaney, the court heard, had been in the vicinity of the midlands town's shopping centre shortly before midday when a verbal exchange between the accused and staff unfolded. Kathleen Delaney spat at both the manager and security personnel of Penneys in Longford town after becoming "abusive and very threatening", a court was told. Sgt Enda Daly, in presenting the State's case, said the 46-year-old suddenly became 'abusive and very threatening' towards security and the manager of Penneys. He said that altercation resulted in the accused spitting at a member of the store's security personnel and its manager in an episode which later led to Delaney being issued with an assault summons alongside an accompanying one for public order. Judge Deirdre Gearty was told the accused did have a number previous convictions, however they were of an 'historical' nature that dated back to 1997. Kathleen Delaney outside Longford Courthouse. News in 90 Seconds - 7th June Bríd Mimnagh, defending, said Delaney was someone who had been toiling under a 'chaotic lifestyle', challenges which had been more recently exacerbated by a number of bereavements of close family members. 'She just was in a chaotic lifestyle,' said Ms Mimnagh. 'She is doing really well and working full time now.' Ms Mimnagh added how her client had managed to turn her life around by steering clear of any garda attention for a 'considerable length of time'. Kathleen Delaney was ordered to engage with probation services for the purposes of a restorative justice report. In delivering her verdict, Judge Gearty said the case was one which merited Delaney engaging with probation in an attempt to understand the error of her ways by also perhaps reaching out to her male victim or by making a donation to charity. 'Restorative justice is one of the buzz words that's floating around at the minute and it strikes me that this is a situation that if (she) is apologetic for what she has done she could write him a letter (or) she could make a donation to the charity of his choice,' she said. Delaney was remanded on bail to appear back before a sitting of Longford District Court on September 2 for the preparation of a restorative justice report.
Irish Examiner
13 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Carlow shooting 'shouldn't have happened, but none of us know the true story', says gun shop owner
Many Irish people pride themselves on the fact that Ireland is practically a 'gun-free' nation. When looking at the atrocities committed so regularly in the US by mass shooters, we comfort ourselves that something of that nature could never happen here. The events at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow town last Sunday night have perhaps shaken that belief somewhat. The self-inflicted death of 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald, who was already on bail and facing charges for the illegal possession of various firearms, while in possession of a shotgun gives rise to many questions. How the young man came to the attention of the gardaí in the first place is well-documented. A man with an admitted 'fascination' with firearms, he and two associates ordered a number of high-powered weapons via the dark web — only to be apprehended by gardaí soon after acquiring them in March of last year. They had come into possession of a handgun, an automatic rifle, and over 40 rounds of ammunition. Prior to his death, Mr Fitzgerald was facing at least 13 charges of possessing firearms, ammunition, and explosive substances. He had been released on bail on strict conditions pending trial. Gardaí believe that he had been suffering from mental health problems prior to the shopping centre incident. The first question is: How did a man with a known fascination for guns, who had no valid gun licence in his possession, come to be able to walk through a shopping centre with a fully-licensed shotgun? The second question is: Was this incident an aberration? Could it happen again? When one looks into the subject, one becomes aware for the first time of an unexpected statistic: Ireland might have a reputation for being gun-free, but that is simply not the case in practice. According to the most recent annual report from An Garda Síochána, valid as at the end of 2023, there were roughly 204,000 licensed firearms in the country at that date, with several thousand illegal versions seized across the year. Each of those weapons would require an individual licence. Put in simple terms, with an adult population of 3.8m people, roughly 5% of that cohort per capita owns a firearm — a massive figure by any standards. 'Huge hobby' That still leaves us far adrift of the US, which has about 120 guns for every 100 population, but it is nevertheless a significant figure for a country where law enforcement is typically not armed (the 5% figure is broadly in alignment with the number of firearms held by the British public). 'It's a huge hobby,' says Pat Cooke, the proprietor of the Hilltop Gun Shop and Ranges in Newtownmountkennedy, Wicklow, and one of Ireland's many registered firearms dealers. He explains that the enthusiasm for shooting as a sport takes many different guises. 'It depends on what kind of sport someone is into. There's clay pigeon shooting, which is huge. Game shooting. Hunting. Then there is just target shooting, which is huge again,' Mr Cooke says, noting that the day prior to our conversation he had a customer in his shop who had just returned from Britain, where he had travelled to take part in a target shooting competition. 'Quite a few people travel during the hunting season to shoot game in Africa,' the 74-year-old says. I used to travel to Germany for shoots. Others go to Russia, Lithuania for super competitions. Quite a lot of people travel to Australia for world shoots Asked what kinds of guns people are looking to acquire when they walk through his door, the broad response is: 'Handguns and rifles, it varies.' Asked how he first came to love shooting, Mr Cooke says he has been involved in the sport 'from when I was a youngster', when there were far more younger people attracted to it than there are now. 'When they were 16, they'd start shooting. We'd walk hail, rain, and snow for the sport with a dog and a gun,' he said. 'We didn't sit at computers all day long, because we didn't have any.' So how complicated is it to get a gun in Ireland? Well, there are two stages. The first is to apply for a licence via An Garda Síochána, a process which has no definite timeframe but will, by and large, take 'weeks into months' to complete, according to sources. Gardaí have been piecing together the last hours of 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald since Sunday when he fired a shotgun inside Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow before turning the gun on himself. There is one certainty regarding licensed firearms in Ireland so far as the gardaí are concerned: If you want a gun, you need to have a good reason. The majority of licences relate to farming, other professional agricultural requirements, and hunting. If you want to own a firearm in this country for recreation, then you need to be a member of one of the roughly 970 gun clubs in the country. One key difference between the US and here is that there is one reason that will not fly under any circumstances when it comes to applying for a licence in Ireland: You cannot hold a gun here legally for the reason of your own security or self-defence. Firearm application To apply for a licence, the application is made directly to the local garda superintendent, a person who also has the power to revoke same. The process itself is not a pro forma one. Once an application has gone in, the applicant will be subject to a garda interview. Their living space will be inspected to see where the gun will be kept. All guns have to be kept under secure lock and key by their owners, while ammunition has to be stored separately in an inaccessible area. The applicant will be given guidance on the implementation of Ireland's firearms legislation. Every gun, meanwhile, requires a separate licence, meaning the process has to be repeated for every firearm without exception. Then, once a licence has been obtained, the aspiring gun-owner can go about sourcing the firearm they desire. A lot of those guns will be purchased from the aforementioned firearms dealerships. Some others will be imported. Receiving a gun in the post is not permitted, as every firearm has to be checked by the gardaí to ensure it conforms to standards. In Mr Cooke's case, all firearms are sold in person. I do it all over the counter. I had bad experiences with couriers, so I try not to use them The problem is that the case of Mr Fitzgerald shows that the strict rules that are in place can be circumvented. Mr Fitzgerald didn't have a valid licence himself. Even if he had, it likely would have been revoked given the charges he was facing. However, the shotgun he used was legally held — just not by him. Given that rules can be gotten around, are we somewhat fortunate that incidents such as that which occurred in Carlow don't happen more often? 'It doesn't happen more because the regulations are in place, and there is a lot of process around the system,' says a source. 'Even if someone is involved in say a domestic violence incident, their situation would be reviewed. 'The regulations come down to the wording that only a 'person suitable to hold a firearm' may own one.' Asked about the incident in Carlow, Mr Cooke says 'it is something that shouldn't have happened'. He adds that 'none of us know the true story'. 'If anyone has any marks on their character at all, they won't have a licence. I have gotten calls from gardaí about people asking is there any doubt about them at all. I cannot give anything out, be it firearms or ammunition, you cannot even ask if you don't have a licence,' he says. One aspect of the conversation Mr Cooke objects to is the suggestion that obtaining a gun is the equivalent of acquiring a weapon. 'When someone is looking for a gun, they are looking for a firearm. A hammer is a weapon. We class guns as what they are,' he says. He disputes that people with bad intentions could seek to acquire a gun legally. 'They have to go through all the rigmarole to get a licence, and they have to fit all the criteria,' he says. Not that he has experienced any trouble at his own dealership. 'Absolutely, there has been very little crime. 'When it comes down to it, 99.9% of gunholders in this country are very reliable people,' he says.
The Irish Sun
16 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Gynaecologist who raped dozens of patients & secretly filmed examinations for almost 20 years is jailed in Norway
A DOCTOR who raped dozens of patients and secretly filmed examinations for almost two decades has been jailed in Norway. A court on Friday sentenced Arne Bye, 55, to 21 years in prison in a case that has 3 A court on Friday sentenced Arne Bye, 55, to 21 years in prison 3 Grim video footage was recovered in the police probe 3 Cameras had been set up in his examination room Former GP Bye was found guilty of committing 70 counts of rape and sexual assault during gynecological examinations of his patients between 2004 and 2022. He was also condemned for 80 instances of abuse of his position as a doctor. Close to all of the offences occurred during medical examinations that Bye carried out on his patients whilst working as a physician at his medical practice in the small town of Frosta in central Norway. The court in the city of Trondelag banned Bye from exercising his medical profession indefinitely and demanded he financially compensate his victims. A harrowing total of 94 women testified during the trial, describing how wicked Bye committed multiple acts of non-consensual touching and digital penetration without medical justification. The acts all constitute rape under Norwegian law. Addressing the court on Friday, Judge Espen Haug reportedly said: "The suspect's actions make this case an extremely serious one. The actions are unacceptable. "The defendant's actions happened in a place and setting where people are supposed to feel safe. Most read in The US Sun "His actions have undermined public trust in the health service as well as doctors in general." The 55-year-old defendant stood up and appeared calm as the maximum sentence was handed to him. France's 'worst paedophile ever' goes on trial as surgeon accused of abusing 299 victims & declaring 'I'm a paedo & proud' The sentence matched the one requested by the prosecution. Bye's defense had argued for lesser sentence, recognising only 20 of the rapes. Bye also filmed the assaults. Cops seized over 6,000 hours of footage during their investigation, including of his gynaecological examinations. Bye was shown to have inserted a "deodorant-like", "bottle-like" and a cylindrical object into the women - with no medical reason for doing so. One woman, speaking to the court last November, said: "I thought I was going to die". Another unnamed woman said she had gone in to her GP's office for a sore throat - before being given one of the invasive examinations. She told how she ended up in her underwear on a bench, saying: "I thought that he is my doctor, so I did as he said." The indictment against Bye says the alleged assaults "happened quickly and unexpectedly" during the examinations. Concerns were raised about him as long ago as 2006 - by another doctor in the gynaecology ward at a local hospital. Read more on the Irish Sun One of Bye's patients, who was there for further treatment, said her doctor had massaged her genitals during the exam. Bye was able to keep his job until the following year when charges were filed. HOW YOU CAN GET HELP: Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families: Always keep your phone nearby. Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women's Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine. If you are in danger, call 999. Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing '55'. Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare. If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone. Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space. If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity's email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – Women's Aid provides a You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
