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 Nenagh Courthouse The Chief District Court Clerk at Nenagh District Court office, Mr Martin Hanton, has given notice that some local court sittings are being cancelled in the towns of Roscrea, Nenagh and Thurles “due to the shortage of Judges“.
Judge Mary Martin, the current sitting Judge in this area, has been on leave for a number of months and her absence has forced the Courts Service to cancel some future sittings, as outlined hereunder:-
Cancelled: The Roscrea Court sitting scheduled for November 3rd. Cases listed have now been adjourned to December 12th next. The sitting on November 9th is being added to the list for the sitting in Roscrea Town on December 14th next.
Cancelled: The Nenagh Court on November 4th has now been listed for the sitting in that town on November 25th next.
Cancelled: The Thurles Court on November 11th has been adjourned to the sitting in the town on November 22nd next.
Persons held in custody and due to appear at the Roscrea sitting on November 3rd and 9th, and Nenagh on November 4th, will now be brought before the Templemore Court, sitting on November 10th next.
Others in custody, due to appear at the Thurles Court sitting on November 11th, will now be brought before Nenagh Court on November 17th next.
 Thurles Courthouse Templemore courthouse is to close early next year, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has confirmed in the Dáil.
He said the Courts Service board last week have approved the closure and the courthouse in Templemore, Co Tipperary will now move all hearings to the newly restored Thurles Court facility.
Defending the closure, the Minister said the Courts Service board had amalgamated 140 district courthouses over the past 12 years.
Alan Shatter stated that “The decision to close any courthouse is generally taken due to the buildings being in poor condition.”
Thurles Courthouse was nominated at the Irish Architecture Awards in 2009, and is regarded as a major civic and historical landmark in the centre of Thurles. Erected in 1828, the courthouse itself has played host to many historic events, the public meeting regarding Famine Public Works schemes in April 1846, the famous GAA Convention of November 9th 1887, the inaugural meeting of Thurles Golf Club on January 21st 1909.
Photo courtesy G.Willoughby.
Convicted rapist James Citro, with an address at Abbots Close, Worle,Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset, England went on trial last week at the Old Bailey in London, accused of the murder of a Lithuanian woman in London some 13 years ago.
 Nijole Siskeviciene The now accused, 54-year-old James Citro, was originally born James Kennedy and is a native of Nenagh, Country Tipperary. Kennedy was previously jailed for raping two women in his home town of Nenagh in 1978. He was arrested and charged over the Lithuanian divorcee’s death earlier in January this year as part of a police cold case review. A jury was sworn in on Monday last and the trial is expected to last two weeks.
The body of the murdered 44-year-old woman, named as Nijole Siskeviciene, who worked as a hotel chambermaid, was found strangled close to garages near her home in Wembley, Northwest London, on October 20, 1998. Miss Siskeviciene and her teenage son Vytautis Siskevicius, had only moved to the UK the previous year and had then only recently moved to that address the previous week.
James Citro, who changed his surname from Kennedy, has denied murdering Nijole Siskeviciene, 44, in Lancelot Road, Wembley, in October 1998. He was arrested following a drink-driving incident in July 2010 and his DNA was found to match a sample from this earlier attack, the court heard. Kennedy had lived just two doors away from the mother of one at the time of the murder, but denied knowing her when interviewed by police, following house to house inquiries.
However, he would later admit to perverting the course of justice by sending two anonymous letters to police following the killing. Citro used one of these letters to claim that “two dark men,” were seen with the body of Miss Siskeviciene. In the second letter, he passed himself off as an elderly person writing, “A girl was carried out from a house by two black men.” Citro’s DNA was found to match DNA on the letters and police found similar stationery in his home during a subsequent search.
The victim who was raped and strangled, was found by a passerby at around 7.30pm on October 20, 1998, propped up outside garages 200 yards to the rear of Lancelot Crescent, where she resided, prosecution QC Philip Bennetts told jurors. When he was arrested at his home in Weston-super-Mare in January this year, Kennedy, who now walks with the aid of a stick, said ‘Oh my God,‘ and was ‘visibly shaken,‘, the court heard.
Citro was convicted of two rapes in Ireland in 1979 in which the victims were also throttled. Kennedy /Citro, then aged just 21, had offered a 19-year-old girl a lift in his car and raped her, as he tightened a ligature around her neck until she passed out. He then threw her into a lake and when she tried to reach the shore, continuously threw rocks at her.
His later second Irish victim, a 23-year-old, was attacked a month later and raped while Kennedy held his hands around her throat.
On his release from prison in Ireland, James Kennedy (now James Citro) fled to the UK.
His trial continues. See Update
Gardaí are refusing to rule out the possibility that members of both Thurles and  Limerick families are involved in incidents which have elderly residents in Rathdowney, (situated close to the Tipperary border) living in justifiable fear.
Recent unprecedented incidents of crime which include arson, guns being discharged, street altercations and numerous burglaries in the area have rocked the small town and left locals expressing deep shock.
Gardaí are currently conducting an investigation following a suspected arson attack in Rathdowney, which left a rural home completely gutted. Gardaí were called to a fire in a rural secluded house during the early hours of last week. The house was rented by two local men in their mid-20s. No person was injured at the scene and no arrests were made, however there were also reports of gunshots being fired at the scene of the house fire, in which a car was targeted.
Just hours earlier, the previous night, there had also been a serious altercation in the middle of the town, when gardaí ordered the seizure and removal of a vehicle with no tax or insurance. This physical altercation did not involve gardaí, but was between the removal operator and the occupants of the car being seized.
Numerous men were arrested and later released by gardaí, however one local male in his mid 20’s, with an outstanding warrant, is now being detained at the Midland’s Prison.
Gardaí now believe these incidents are all connected and the shooting and arson attack are linked to three recent burglaries in the Conoboro, Rathdowney area along with other reported attempted burglaries. Investigations are continuing.
 Holycross Abbey, Thurles. Thurles Gardaí are investigating the theft of two priceless religious artefact’s from Holycross Abbey yesterday evening (11/10/2011.)
Two persons, their faces covered, armed with a portable angle grinder and other tools entered Holycross Abbey at about 5.00pm yesterday.
The artefact’s taken, were a 14th century silver cross approximately 12 inches in height, hanging from a chain and containing two crosses and two dark stones and a cross described as being 12 inches in height, standing on its own base and made from gold and bronze.
Both thieves left the scene a short time later and were observed getting into a wine or red VW Touareg vehicle, with the partial registration number 06 OY or 06 LK driven by a third party.
This jeep headed toward Yellow Lough area and was later discovered set alight. A dark coloured saloon car was observed in the vicinity of the burnt out vehicle.
Gardaí would like anybody with any information, to contact them immediately and are appealing for witnesses to contact them at Thurles Garda station at Tel: 0504 25100.
The Holy Cross Abbey (Mainistir na Croise Naofa) is a beautifully restored Cistercian monastery in the village of Holycross, five miles from Thurles town. Situated on the River Suir (Abhainn na Siúire) this Abbey takes its name from a relic of the True Cross or Holy Rood. The fragment of that Holy Rood was brought to Ireland by the French Plantagenet Queen Isabella of Angouleme, in approximately 1233.
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