Barred teenager can visit granny

Once it was lawless gangs that ruled Balllinacurra Weston with their guns before the law caught up with them. But the troubled Limerick estate recently resumed its Wild West ways when a boy mounted on horse back drove cattle through its streets.

The vista, like something out of a John Wayne movie, was recalled at Limerick Children’s Court when Judge Marian O’Leary was told the teen is also accused of being involved in a stabbing and being “the ring leader” of a gang of youths responsible for large-scale antisocial behaviour in the area for more than two years.

The teen, who appeared in court with his father, was opposing an application by Limerick City and County Council to bar him from the area. In one of the first cases of its kind before the courts in Limerick, council solicitor Ger Reidy said the local authority was seeking the order as a “last resort”.