Woman barred from area in Naas
A woman has been banned from entering the Naas neighbourhood her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild live in.
The exclusion against Ms Maggie Lynch, whose address is listed as 12 Cois na Feadain, Naas, applies to Sarto Road, Sarto Park and to Pacelli Road.
Naas District Court heard evidence last Friday, February 12, from a number of residents of the area, as well as John McCarville, a tenant liason officer of Naas Town Council that Ms Lynch had wreaked havoc on the lives of local people in the area.
Mr McCarville told the court that many residents had refused, out of fear, to testify in court against her.
He said that he had received about 18 complaints against Ms Lynch, whose daughter, Mrs Bridget Connors, lives with her husband Thomas and her son, also called Thomas, at 120 Sarto Park.
“The majority of the complainants are petrified of her,” Mr McCarville explained. “I can never visit their houses, they insist on coming to me.
“These are people in their late 70s and 80s, or young parents with children. Their lives are totally destroyed. The peace in the community has been shattered as a result of her behaviour.”
He said that he had spoken to Ms Lynch on a number of occasions but she “told me to f*** myself, and that she’d take the head off me, and that I wasn’t to ever speak to her again”.
Greater detail was given to the court of three separate incidents.
On May 10, 2009, one of the residents in the area was holding a communion party at his house, featuring a bouncy castle.
One of the guests, Fintan Giblin, gave evidence that some time after the party started, Thomas Connors had approached the party, with his son, also Thomas, to see if the child could play on the bouncy castle. He was told it was a private party and he left.
Shortly afterwards Bridget Connors appeared and inquired if Thomas could play. She was also told that it was a private party.
Mr Giblin explained that there had been a disagreement between Ms Connors and the wife of the man hosting the party. Shortly afterwards Ms Lynch appeared and “abused everyone who was there for about 15 minutes”.
Several days later, Mr Giblin and his wife were verbally abused by Ms Lynch on the street outside their home. Mr Giblin said that Ms Lynch called him a “fat c**t, a fat pig and a junkie,” and carried on abusing him for “what seemed like forever”.
“We’ve even contemplated leaving the area,” he admitted. “Our lives have been turned upside down.”
Another witness, Margaret Malone, told the court that on August 7, her five-year-old daughter was playing with some other children, including Ms Lynch’s grandson, Thomas. During the course of the play, Thomas inadvertently drank from a bottle containing some washing-up liquid.
Ms Connors accused Ms Malone's daughter of “trying to poison my son”, even though Thomas told her he had spat it out and didn’t swallow any of it.
The court heard that Ms Lynch threatened to knock out Ms Malone’s teeth and to get her son to slit Ms Malone’s son’s throat. She also called Ms Malone a junkie.
Bridget Connors told the court that she didn’t “want to make a big scene,” at the communion party but that she “wanted to have my say, and to defend my child. I wanted to know why they wouldn’t let him in, and was it because he’s a Traveller?”
And she denied that her mother went up to the party at all.
She characterised the evidence of her neighbours as “all lies”.
And denying that her mother had ever threatened Ms Malone, she noted: “That woman’s looking out for herself.
“That’s the neighbours I have to live with. I’m just being honest with you judge, I’m sorry,” she said.
In the witness stand Ms Lynch denied that a number of the events had ever happened.
In relation to the incident at the communion party, she said it never happened, and in relation to the incident a few days later with Mr and Mrs Giblin, she described Mr Giblin as coming at her “like a lion” and trying to “grab me. His whole body and head was in the window”.
She denied ever threatening Ms Malone. “I never threatened those people. I’ve nothing against the settled people judge.
“This comes straight from the heart judge, those people have something against me, and I don’t know what it is.”
Later under cross-examination by Mr Healy she admitted she was “no angel”, adding that “I’m well able to defend myself, I might as well be honest with you your honour”.
“All those people is telling lies. They’ve a lot to answer for.”
When John Healy for the town council put it to her that some people were in fear of her, she responded “who’s in fear of me?”
“If they’re afraid then that’s their tough luck.”
Judge William Earley said he accepted the evidence of the prosecution and noted that it was courageous of the witnesses to give it in the face of threats.
He described Ms Lynch as being “very intelligent, and, I fear, devious” adding that she had “a profound lack of respect for her daughter’s neighbours”.
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Weather for Naas, Ireland
Thursday 20 June 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
