Andrew Carey
A LIMERICK woman found out that she was pregnant when doctors were treating her for gunshot injuries.
Colette Hennessy was giving evidence in the trial of Thomas McCarthy (33) who has denied two counts of assault causing harm to both herself and her brother, Gerard Hennessy, on the afternoon of August 13, 2014 at Castleview Estate in Newcastle West.
McCarthy, who has addresses at Castleview Estate and in England, also denied being in possession of a firearm with the intent to endanger life on the same date.
At Limerick Circuit Court this week, Ms Hennessy said she had returned to her mother’s house at Castleview Estate on the afternoon of August 13, 2014 last after collecting her two nieces in the UK.
She described how she heard a shot behind her as the children were greeted and hugged by her mother, Ita, and brother, Gerry, outside the family home.
She saw a man wearing dark clothing and something around his head.
“I saw a rusty thing in his hand and I ran to the door and that’s when I got shot”.
She was hit in the right hand, forearm and her side.
She ran to the living room after seeing Thomas McCarthy at a neighbour’s gate with a weapon.
“I pushed the girls in ahead of me and Gerry pushed me in the door, he had been hit”.
She was taken to the University Hospital Limerick where she was treated for pellet wounds and fractured fingers as well as injuries to her forearm that later required physiotherapy. An obstetrician also examined her at the hospital and told her that she was pregnant.
During cross examination by defence counsel Brendan Nix SC, Ms Hennessy said that she never asked her brother why he had been shot and that she believed it was over something that happened ten years ago.
Mr Nix put it to the witness that during the “panic and confusion, you identified the wrong man”, but Ms Hennessy said that she knew the accused all her life and that it was him she saw.
Former neighbour Bernadette Quirke said she saw Thomas McCarthy pulling something black off his head as he drove away in silver a 03 D registered car. She didn’t make a statement at the time as she was “too afraid and didn’t talk to anyone afterwards either.”
Under cross-examination, she accepted that Gerry Hennessy was in her house on one occasion when he was arrested.
“I didn’t ask why he was on the run but I was never charged with harbouring him” she added.
Eddie Carey Snr and Eddie Jnr, both of Castleview Estate gave evidence of seeing Gerry Hennessy with pellet wounds near a back wall at the rear of their home on August 13, 2014.
However, they denied that Gerry Hennessy identified Dan McCarthy, a brother of the accused, as being the man who shot him despite giving signed statements to Gardaí at the time of the incident.
The trial continues before Judge Tom O’Donnell and a jury of eight men and four women.
