Eleven people appear in court on charges relating to feud
Wednesday July 08 2009
ELEVEN people, who have been charged in relation to an ongoing feud between two Tralee traveller families, have had their cases adjourned until September.
The 11, including one juvenile, appeared before Judge James O'Connor at Tralee District court charged with a range of offences including threatening behaviour, possession of weapons and breach of previous bail conditions.
The feud which has been ongoing since early May led to the first ever deployment of the Garda Armed Response Unit to Tralee and last month saw a mass brawl involving up to 30 people at Tralee's Rath cemetery.
For the second week running there was a heavy Garda presence at Tralee District Court with uniform and plainclothes gardaí searching people entering the court buildings for weapons and barring anyone from the chamber unless they had direct involvement with a case.
At Wednesday's sitting the bail conditions were changed for 10 of the men charged in connection with the feud and violent incidents in the Tralee area in recent weeks.
The men who appeared in court were Thomas Coffey (aged 19), of 26 Muing, Tralee; Bernard O'Neill (20), of 19 Ballinorig Close; John Casey (26), of 61 Clonmore Road; Denis (23) and Christopher (19) Fitzgerald, of 16 Lee Drive, Tralee; Jimmy (24) Martin (25) and Michael (30) Quilligan, all from 3 Mitchels Road; Paddy Quilligan (29), of 43 Rath Oraigh, and Francis O'Brien (35), of 67 Mitchels Crescent.
The cases of these ten were adjourned until September 23 and strict bail conditions barring them from certain Tralee estates and from sharing vehicles with specific named individuals were imposed.
Bernard O'Neill, who had spent the previous week in Cork prison over a breach of previous bail conditions, was released on bail on similar conditions and was ordered to obey a curfew between 8pm and 7am.
Tony Coffey (20) with an address at 9 Cahereens West, Castleisland who is also charged in relation to the ongoing feud also appeared in court on foot of a bench warrant. He was remanded in custody to appear again at Tralee District Court on Wednesday, July 8.
Tralee Garda Inspector Martin McCarthy told Judge James O'Connor that further charges may yet be brought against more people in relation to the feud in the coming weeks.
