Galway man jailed for feud-linked violent disorder at Ballybane estate
Derek Ward (26) received a two-year sentence for violent disorder at Rocklands Avenue on 24 February 2025, consecutive to a term he is already serving.
Galway Circuit Court sentences Ward over Traveller feud incident
A group of men marched in "paramilitary fashion" carrying slash hooks towards workers at a house in Ballybane, Galway, in an incident a court has described as "extremely terrifying" for local residents. Connachttribune.ie reports that Galway Circuit Court heard the sentencing this week of Derek Ward (26), of Camillaun Park, Newcastle, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Rocklands Avenue on 24 February 2025.
Judge Eoin Garavan imposed a two-year prison sentence, with the final 12 months suspended for three years. The term runs consecutively to a three-year sentence Ward is already serving for a separate feud-related incident at a laneway between Bohermore and the Galway Shopping Centre on 10 September 2023.
Two incidents on the same day
The court heard that two separate incidents took place at Rocklands Avenue on the morning and afternoon of 24 February 2025. CCTV footage showed members of the Smurf McDonagh family working on a house, not interfering with anyone, when members of the Sweeney Ward family arrived later that day.
Judge Garavan said a WhatsApp message "gathered the troops" and brought Ward and others to the scene. There was some suggestion Ward had been told a false story that his sister's home was under attack, but the judge said the court was sceptical of that account.
The footage showed some members of the Sweeney Ward side covering their faces; Derek Ward did not. Between eight and ten men then lined up in what Judge Garavan described as "paramilitary fashion" and marched toward the McDonaghs in a manner that was "quite frightening" and intended to be "intimidatory". The group carried a "panoply of weapons" including slash hooks.
Ward himself was seen in possession of a stick and helped chase a van driven by the McDonaghs as they fled. The judge noted there was no direct interpersonal contact with the McDonaghs but called it "a very serious matter".
Medical history and mitigation
Defence barrister Patrick Reynolds, instructed by solicitor Cathy McDarby, told the court that at the age of 19, Ward was diagnosed with leukaemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. Ward is now in remission but remains immunocompromised and endured two serious periods of isolation following the transplant.
Reynolds described his client not as a "prime mover" in the Rocklands incident but, "in Shakespearean terms", as a "spear-carrier". He urged the court to apply the principles of proportionality and totality given that any sentence must be consecutive to the existing three-year term.
Judge Garavan acknowledged Ward had suffered an element of post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in hospital during the pandemic, when people were "expiring" from Covid-19. He also noted that Ward is a boxing champion and, in many ways, a sporting hero in his community.
However, the judge said Ward may have "used up his mitigation" through his involvement in the 2023 incidents and a suspended sentence handed down by the district court in September 2024 — just five months before the Rocklands incident.
Sentencing
Judge Garavan set a headline sentence of three years. Taking into account Ward's early guilty plea, his conduct since entering prison, and an offer of employment in England upon his release, he reduced the sentence to two years. He then suspended the final 12 months, subject to conditions, having regard to the totality of the sentences Ward now faces.
Ward has five previous convictions, though the court heard he led an entirely blemish-free life until the age of 19.
Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)