{"id":143619,"date":"2025-11-16T23:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/143619\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T23:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:32:07","slug":"go-back-to-your-own-country-man-appears-in-court-following-spate-of-attacks-in-limerick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/143619\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Go back to your own country\u2019: Man appears in court following spate of attacks in Limerick"},"content":{"rendered":"

A LIMERICK man who told another man to \u201cgo back to his own country\u201d has appeared in court following a spate of similar incidents at a number of public locations in the city.<\/p>\n

Colin O\u2019Neill, aged 27, of Castletroy View, Limerick, pleaded guilty when appeared before Limerick District Court<\/a> to face a number of charges arising from the incidents.<\/p>\n

In one instance, Judge Carol Anne Coolican was told he “chased” another man across the car park of a busy shopping centre, until the victim sought refuge in a stranger’s car.<\/p>\n

The defendant was before the court charged with two counts of assault and one count of engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour in a public place. The incidents in question took place on August 8, 2024.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Denis Waters said on the date in question, an incident occurred at the Parkway Shopping Centre at Dublin Road, Limerick.<\/p>\n

While inside the premises Mr O\u2019Neill pulled another man\u2019s hood down whilst telling him to \u201cgo back to his own country\u201d. While there was a physical altercation, no injuries were recorded.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0Homophobic attack not a ‘once-off’ as woman hospitalised in Limerick assault<\/a><\/p>\n

On the same date, gardai were alerted to another incident which occurred on Bloodmill Road, a short distance away from the shopping centre. Sgt Waters said it was later established that Mr O’Neill had “struck and pushed” another man stating he wanted to fight him \u201cbecause he wasn\u2019t Irish\u201d.<\/p>\n

The third incident, the court heard, took place at the Limerick One Shopping Centre on Childers Road, the following day – August 9, 2024.<\/p>\n

Sgt Waters said on this occasion, the defendant had chased a \u201ccoloured man\u201d across the car park of the shopping centre. After the man took refuge in a stranger\u2019s car, Mr O\u2019Neill punched and broke the window of the parked car with a closed fist.<\/p>\n

There was no complaint from the man who was pursued but the owner of the damaged vehicle subsequently reported the incident to garda\u00ed. He sustained a scratched eyebrow but didn\u2019t require medical attention.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Sarah Ryan, representing the accused, said she had seen CCTV footage of the incidents and she told the court that Sergeant Waters had \u201ctoned down\u201d what happened.<\/p>\n

Judge Coolican directed that victim impact statements be sought before she imposes sentence.<\/p>\n

Separately, Mr O\u2019Neill was also before the court charged with two counts of public disorder under Section 19 under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.<\/p>\n

The court heard that on February 24, garda\u00ed were dealing with an incident when they were interrupted by Mr O\u2019Neill, who was highly intoxicated. He began to use abusive and threatening language towards garda\u00ed and they subsequently used pepper spray and handcuffs to arrest the accused.<\/p>\n

A further incident took place on October 24 on Childers Road. Sgt Waters told the court that Mr O\u2019Neill was stopped while driving his vehicle in the Castletroy area.<\/p>\n

After stopping, the court heard that Mr O\u2019Neill got out of the car and tried to run away from garda\u00ed. After being apprehended a short time later, he became aggressive and tried to enter his home. He was subsequently arrested and charged with public disorder.<\/p>\n

All matters related to Mr O\u2019Neill were adjourned until December 4.<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LIMERICK man who told another man to \u201cgo back to his own country\u201d has appeared in court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7518,42,44,7250,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-143619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-castletroy","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-limerick-city","11":"tag-limerick-district-court","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}