A Thurles man who went to a homeless unit to complain about a burglary at his home, and then attacked a man using a lump hammer which fractured his skull, has lost his appeal against the severity of his sentence.
Mr Donnacha Loughnane, aged 57 years, is currently serving 4.5 years for the violent attack, which occurred back in February of 2022 last.
A court heard how Mr Loughnane, who lived in the vicinity of a residential unit for homeless men in Thurles, had become totally obsessed with the idea that his victim had broken into his home and that of his parents home, and had removed items.
Mr Loughnane, on February 18th 2022 last, was captured on CCTV, at 4:41pm, banging on the front door of the homeless unit, before kicking it and walking away.
Later at 6:28pm he returned and spoke to the acting social care manager of the unit, communicating through a window in the building, complaining that the residents of the homeless unit were stealing items from his home.
At 11:10pm that night, Mr Loughnane returned to the unit, armed with a lump hammer and spoke to another social worker, this time claiming that a named resident had burgled his home and the home of his parents.
The named resident having overheard the accusation, came out, resulting in a physical and verbal row between him and Mr Loughnane. Mr Loughnane removed a lump hammer from his pocket and struck the victim across his head, having been first struck by the victim he had accused.
The victim fell to the ground and Mr Loughnane struck him at least six times, during this brutal attack.
Mr Loughnane was later arrested but first denied carrying out the assault, despite CCTV placing him at the scene. The victim, when rushed to hospital, was found to have suffered a number of fractures to his skull and eye socket, four wounds to his head and a wound to his ring finger.
Mr Loughnane, a single man, was later convicted for the assault, and on January 12th 2023, he was sentenced to five years with six months suspended for the assault causing harm and four years with six months suspended for the production of an article, same capable of inflicting serious injury or even death.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the initial judge’s sentencing decision and have now dismissed Mr Loughnane’s appeal.
Love Will Survive (from The Tattooist of Auschwitz)
The book “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is an truly an extraordinary book, which relates a true story about the extremes of human behaviour existing, each side by side; the calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love.
This true story relates to a fact that in April 1942, pre-war business man Lale Sokolov, [born Ludwig Eisenberg on October 28th 1916 ], latter a Slovakian Jew, was forcibly transported to the WWII concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover thatLale speaks several languages, he is forced to work as a Tätowierer (German word for tattooist), tasked with the permanently marking of his fellow prisoners arms.
While imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale, (latter prisoner number 32407), witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism, but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Now, often risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange money and jewellery, same taken from Jewish prisoners already murdered in the camp, using same to acquire food, thus keeping his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale comforts a nervous young woman, latter waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. He discovers her name is Gita [(Giselle) Cycowicz (née Friedman)] born in 1927 in Chust, Czechoslovakia, (today Khust, Ukraine), and from his first encounter with her, Lale vows to somehow survive the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and marry her, same marriage in fact come to pass in 1945.
Love Will Survive (from “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”)
Vocals: American singer, actress, songwriter, producer and director Ms Barbra Streisand. Lyrics: American songwriter and record producer Charlie Midnight, in collaboration with German-born American film score composer and music producer Hans Zimmer, composer for film and television MsKara Talve and American record producer and songwriter Walter Afanasieff.
Love Will Survive (from “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”)
Until I find you and walk beside you, Until we face every heartache together, I’ll keep believing, feel your breathing, hear your cries, With every season of sorrow, somehow our love survives. As nights grew longer, our prayers grew stronger, And in the darkness, we kept hope alive. We made a promise that love will survive. And in our dreams, we are running from shadows, Leaving behind the tears and the ghosts. Until I’m near you, somehow, I’ll hear you, Your voice will echo inside me forever. And in our dreams, we are running from shadows, Leaving behind the tears and the ghosts, Whilst our years were taken, our spirits shaken, But in the darkness, we kept hope alive. We made a promise that love will survive. Love will survive.
End
The book is a vivid, harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences, as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of fellow prisoners with what would eventually become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, which was Nazi Germany’s deliberate, organized, state-sponsored persecution and genocide of European Jews. During WWII, this Nazi regime and their collaborators systematically murdered over six million Jewish people.
The book, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz“ is a true testament to the endurance of love and humanity, under the darkest possible conditions of a concentration camp during WWII.
Tipperary Central Community Policing Unit will be out and about at venues across Tipperary from today, Friday May 24th, until May 31st, 2024. They will be offering a ‘Property Marking Services’ in each community visited, giving people the chance to have any valuable property marked with their Eircode. Gardaí would especially like to see owners of high value itemse.g. Trailers / Lawnmowers / Power tools etc. attend at the venues tabled hereunder. (For more details visit https://propertymarking.ie )
Date:
Time:
Venue:
May 24th.
12:00pm – 4:00pm.
Knockanrawley Community Resource Centre, Tipperary Town.
Gardaí will also use this opportunity to speak to those in attendance on all aspects of safety (including personal security, online security and in particular, road safety).
So please do come along to the named venues during the times stated above.
Up to five years imprisonment if found guilty on indictment.
One of a set of holistic measures under the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027.
Complemented by Greentown Programme which seeks to disrupt the influence of organised crime groups on young people.
The Minister for Justice Mrs Helen McEntee and the Minister of State with responsibility for Youth Justice Mr James Browne have welcomed the coming into effect of legislation criminalising adults who draw children into crime.
Minister McEntee has this morning commenced the Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Act 2024, which makes it an offence for an adult to either force or encourage children to engage in any criminal activity.
Those found guilty of the new offences may face imprisonment of up to 12 months on summary conviction and up to five years on indictment.
The legislation recognises the life-long impact and harm done to a child by drawing them into criminal activity, and is one of a set of holistic measures being progressed by the Department of Justice and Minister Browne under the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 to address youth offending.
Under that Strategy, the Department has established an intensive intervention pilot called the Greentown Programme, which is specifically focused on disrupting organised crime groups who lure children into crime, and improving outcomes for children at risk or already engaged in criminal networks.
Speaking today, Minister McEntee said: “This important legislation will criminalise adults who are ruining young people’s lives and blighting their communities by forcing or enticing them into criminal lifestyles. While offending might start small, it often snowballs into something more serious and suddenly there is no way out for a young person whose life can become plagued by debts, fear and intimidation.
It will be an important tool in the arsenal of Gardaí to disrupt criminal networks and pursue those who use vulnerable young people to keep their own hands clean, complementing the holistic intervention work already underway through the Greentown Programme.
We must pursue those who do the harm, but also work to undo the harm – the Greentown Programme provides intensive wraparound supports and interventions for young people either at risk of or already influenced by criminal networks. It provides intensive supports for the positive development and diversion of the affected children, as well as their family members.
I would like to thank my colleague Minister Browne for his work in developing this legislation and seeing it through the Houses. I look forward to seeing its impact.”
Welcoming the commencement of the Act, Minister Browne said:
“Seeing this legislation over the line has been a key priority for me given its centrality to the Youth Justice Strategy. To really change and reduce youth offending, we need a holistic approach – criminalising those who induce children into criminal activity, creating pro-social opportunities for young people at risk, and intensive interventions for those who are already involved in criminality to improve their long-term outcomes.
The reality is that some children are dealt a losing hand when they have people in their lives – it could be a parent, a cousin, a sibling, a neighbour – who actively exploit them. These people do immeasurable harm to the life of a young person and this legislation recognises that.
Young people may be coerced, forced or enticed by promises of wealth and social status, but what may seem like a quick way to make money or even as something glamourous or cool, very typically turns sour.
A criminal conviction can seriously affect young people’s opportunities to travel abroad, to gain access to education or work, all of which can set people onto worse paths.
This legislation will help to prevent the next generation from being used and abused by criminal gangs, and will contribute to the building of safer, stronger communities.”
This meets objectives contained in both the Programme for Government and the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027.
A key objective in handling youth crime is to try to keep young people out of the criminal justice system as far as possible. The provisions in this legislation limit liability for the offences to adults in order to avoid further consequences for children who are already victims of crime themselves and who may also have been groomed.
The Government is committed to supporting youth justice services in every way possible. In Budget 2024, a further €2.9 million in funding was allocated to youth justice services, increasing the total budget allocation for the youth diversion measures to over €33 million.
This new legislation has been informed by the Greentown Programme, which is being implemented by the University of Limerick in partnership with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and was recognised at the 2020 European Crime Prevention Awards. The aim of the Programme is to investigate the involvement of children in criminality and to establish interventions to tackle the problem.
The Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Act 2024 can be found HERE.
Gardaí in Clonmel, South Co. Tipperary are currently investigating an incident of suspected criminal damage which occurred at the HSE Modular Homes Site, Heywood Road, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary between midnight and 1:00am, in the early hours of yesterday, Tuesday, May 21st 2024.
Gardaí are now investigating whether this second attack on this refugee accommodation centre in Co. Tipperary may be connected to previous attacks which occured on sites in Wicklow, Dublin, Cork and Galway.
The scene has been technically examined, and investigating Gardaí are understood to be currently following a number of lines of enquiry.
Gardaí are appealing to anyone who may have observed this incident occurring, or who may have noticed suspicious behaviour in or around this HSE Modular Site, at Upper Heywood, Clonmel, between the hours of 8:30pm on Monday night May 20th and 1:30am on Tuesday morning May 21st, 2024.
Gardaí also are appealing for assistance to any motorists holding recorded “Dash-Camera” footage, who were in the Upper Heywood Road area, Clonmel between these times, to make same available. Anyone with any other information is asked to contact Clonmel Garda StationTel: 052-6177640; or email CT.TipperarySouth.CE@garda.ie; OR alternatively to phone the Garda Confidential Line Free-phone 1800 666 111.
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