Former 'cattle beater' back in court

On 21 May, Patrick Byrnes (31) was jailed for contempt of court by Judge Joseph Mangan at Ennis District Court after repeatedly interrupting a Garda’s evidence, insisting, this 'was lies'.  Byrnes, with an address in Kilmihill, West Clare, but originally from the south side of Limerick City, was in court facing 4 charges after allegedly stealing a neighbours car and crashing it in a pedestrian street in Ennis town centre after a 20 kilometre car chase by Gardaí. Gardaí indicated more charges are likely.

The jeep allegedly taken taken by Byrnes

Byrnes was arrested at 4:30 on the afternoon of Wednesday the 19th of May after allegedly ramming a black Kia Sorrento jeep into a bollard and a shop front on Market Street in Ennis. He had previously allegedly taken the jeep at knifepoint from its owner Denis Considine back in Kilmihil.  Byrnes later allegedly refused to provide a blood or urine sample to Gardai at an Ennis Garda Station. After the crash, Byrnes is alleged to have reached for his knife before being restrained by the Gardai with pepper spray.

Byrens, a father of 3, has numerous previous conditions.  Formerly of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, he was jailed in 2003 for spitting at a Guard. On 29 August that year, Gardaí were called to a disturbance at Punches’ Cross, in Limerick City, where they came across a drunken aggressive Byrnes stripped to the waist. After his arrest, he assaulted 2 Gardaí.  Appearing in court the following September, he also faced charges of possessing a balaclava, an iron bar, a rubber hose and other weapons when stopped at a Garda checkpoint on the Dock Road in early August 2003.  Byrnes insisted the iron bar and rubber hose were for beating cattle. Already with 30 convictions, Byrnes was sentence to 6 months by Judge Tom O’Donnell.

 Patrick Byrnes

In 2005, Byrnes was back in court, this time with his dad, Patrick Byrnes Senior, then 46. Father and son, along with another man, Patrick Higgins, were charged with possession of a firearm for unlawful purposes at Lisheen Park, Patrickswell on 30 May 2005. They pleaded guilty to involvement in the shooting of Edward Harty outside his home in Patrickswell by masked gunmen after mistakenly believing Harty was a passenger in a car that killed Higgins’ brother, Robert (31) who crashed his car into a ditch in Rosbrien on 25 May 2005.  The Irish Independent described the shooting as 'an escalating feud between a local Traveller family and a Limerick crime gang'. Patrick Senior and his son were sentenced to 6 years in March 2006.