Lovely lads:
Hitler and friends cleared of murder charge by court
Siobhan Gaffney
November 28 2004 12:11 AM
FIVE travellers accused of the murder of their cousin at a family funeral were yesterday found not guilty at the Central Criminal Court.
The jury in the 30-day trial first reached a unanimous verdict of not guilty on four of the accused after four hours and five minutes. They took a further hour and 20 minutes to find Mr Michael 'Hitler Bumbee' McDonagh not guilty of murder.
The five travellers from the same family denied the murder of Mr Patrick 'Deuce' Ward in May 1999 at Carrownanty Cemetery in Ballymote, Co. Sligo. Mr Michael 'Hitler Bumbee' McDonagh snr, 58, Mr Martin 'Bumbee' McDonagh snr, 53, Mr Michael McDonagh jnr, 29, Mr Patrick McDonagh, 33, and Mr Martin 'Spider Bumbee' McDonagh jnr, 26, from Hertfordshire in London had all denied the murder.
Mr 'Deuce' Ward, 38, a father of six originally from Galway but resident in Manchester, had travelled to Ireland for the funeral of his uncle, also Patrick Ward, in Ballymote, Co Sligo on May 10, 1999 when he was fatally shot.
The five men were cleared of all charges by the jury including the attempted murder of three men; Mr Patrick 'Jaws' Ward snr, Mr Patrick 'Jaws' Ward jnr and Mr Edward 'Ned' Ward on the same occasion.
They were also found not guilty of the possession of a firearm with the intent to in danger life. And the five men were found not guilty of causing violent disorder on the same date.
When the not guilty verdict was reached on the four accused, the Ward family left the court with one of the family shouting: "An eye for an eye, lads."
Later when the full verdict on all five accused was delivered, Mr Paddy 'Jaws' Ward snr said as he left the courtroom: "Call that justice, lads? The State did us down."
There was a heavy garda presence surrounding the Central Criminal Court in an attempt to keep the two families separated.
Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill thanked the jury, saying it was a very difficult trial involving the tragic death of a young man. He then discharged the jury for a period of 20 years.
In May 1999, Mr Patrick 'Skillet' Ward, 47, died suddenly of a heart attack at a Travellers' halting site in Ballymun. After a funeral Mass in Dublin on May 10, 1999, the hearse travelled to Carrownanty Cemetery in Ballymote, Co Sligo for the burial. But before the hearse arrived, at least five gunmen opened fire outside the graveyard.
The extended Ward family and McDonagh family had travelled from the UK to attend the funeral. 'Jaws' Ward Snr and 'Hitler Bumbee' McDonagh are first cousins.
When members of the Ward family arrived at the cemetery, a fracas broke out between the Wards and McDonaghs. 'Deuce' Ward, 38, was shot in the heart and bled to death. Three other members of his family were also shot at but managed to flee to safety.
The trial of the five McDonaghs took six weeks to hear the evidence from 59 witnesses. The prosecution's case centred on the evidence of father and son, Mr Paddy 'Jaws' Ward Snr, 63, and Jnr, 30.
The Wards claimed that, after orders were given by 'Hitler Bumbee' McDonagh to "shoot them, kill them, shoot them", a number of the accused men stepped forward from a crowd of up to 150 McDonaghs at the cemetery entrance with guns and fired.
On the morning of the funeral, the Wards along with Mrs Shirley Ward, 24, wife of 'Jaws' Ward Jnr, travelled from Galway in a green Toyota Hiace van.
Gardai in Ballymote had a policing operation in place for the funeral with roadblocks in place.
Before it reached the graveyard, gardai stopped the Ward's van removing a couple of shovels from the back. When the Ward van reached the graveyard, the Wards claimed there was a crowd of up to 150 McDonaghs at the entrance.
'Jaws' Ward jnr got out of his Hiace van with his father and started to walk towards the crowd. After they had taken a few steps, father and son were allegedly showered with rocks and tarmac.
Four men came forward with handguns, claimed 'Jaws' Ward Jnr, and fired up to 20 rounds. Six men then came forward and fired 25-30 shots. Only after his father said, "They're real guns, get back!", did the pair start to retreat. Keeping his eyes on the gunmen, 'Jaws' jnr walked backwards to a nearby house for safety.
'Jaws' Ward Jnr fled to the house of the former State Solicitor for Sligo, Mr Thomas Tigue. Mr Tigue had been State Solicitor for 18 years before he retired in 1999. He told the court that 'Jaws' jnr repeatedly asked for a gun before he took a "flying leap" at his front door and broke it in. He dashed upstairs where he proceeded to look for a gun.
When Ned Ward arrived in a blue Vauxhall Cavalier with other members of his family, a large group of men starting throwing stones. Within minutes Ned Ward claimed he saw the deceased and the Ward father and son run away from the crowd of men. One of these men, he said then pulled out a gun and fired.
The eldest member of the Ward family, 'Jaws' Ward snr, said after the McDonaghs started firing outside the cemetery he ran for his life, jumping across a car to safety.
The 63-year-old grandfather said he threw himself over the Vauxhall Cavalier car that reversed down the road to his aid. When 'Jaws' Snr reached the entrance of the graveyard, he claimed he saw the deceased, his nephew, collapse on the road.
"I could see a bullet hole in his hip," he declared.
The deceased man's son Michael Ward, then 16, held his dying father as they drove to hospital. "He couldn't talk," said Michael Ward.
During the trial it was revealed that a feud allegedly existed between the Wards and the McDonaghs after a bare-knuckle fight in London 15 years ago.
The fight was between Bernie 'The Boxer' Ward and Tom McDonagh and the wager on the fight was allegedly stg£20,000 in 1986.
'Jaws' Ward jnr, who boxed at super heavyweight for England, told the court he was only a "young fella" when he attended the fight saying it was "just a fight".
"It takes place every day in the Travelling community. It's a way of sorting out problems: after it's over they shake hands. All Travellers have arguments," he added.
Mrs Shirley Ward told the court her father 'Chawkie' was involved in a row with a member of the Travelling community in a London pub 18 months before the shooting.
It was claimed her father took out a Samurai sword in a pub and caused serious injuries to another Traveller. In revenge for the attack, it was claimed, Chawkie's young son Michael was assaulted, requiring 900 stitches.
Gardai confirmed that on the day of the fatal shooting they had roadblocks surrounding the cemetery including gardai stationed at the entrance of the graveyard.
These gardai were attempting to search all Travellers attending the funeral. But before they could do so, the riot between the two clans broke out. Gardai admitted during the trial that they lost control of the situation at the cemetery and were "overpowered" by up to 40 hostile Travellers.
Detectives Callaghan and Farragher tried to apprehend a gunman who threw a gun into a ditch across the road from the cemetery. But the gardai were surrounded by up to 40 Travellers, shouting: "Let him f**king go."
"We were overpowered at this stage. I shouted to Detective Sgt Farragher to let him go due to the hostility of the crowd," said Det Callaghan.
