by Andrew Carey
THE teenager convicted of the murder of Limerick Traveller, Melanie McCarthy McNamara is under 24-hour protection and in a solitary cell after members of a rival gang threatened to have him killed or disfigured.
19-year-old Daniel McDonnell from West Dublin shot the 16-year-old girl as she sat in a car with her boyfriend and another friend in Tallaght two years ago.
Last Sunday, after it emerged that threats were made against the 19-year-old by rival gangs, prison authorities in Mountjoy moved him to a solitary cell for his own safety.
It is understood that money was offered to have the 19-year-old disfigured or killed while in custody.
McDonnell, was sentenced to life imprisonment after the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict in a trial that heard he boasted of the killing by daubing graffiti on his cell wall.
