Two brothers have been found not guilty of the attempted murder of two brothers at an unofficial halting site in Kilcruttin, Tullamore in Co Offaly last year.
John Pio Ward, 42, with an address at the halting site, had pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder Michael McDonagh on 21 March 2025.
His younger brother, 38-year-old Patrick Ward, who also has an address at the halting site, denied the attempted murder of Anthony McDonagh on the same date.
Both men were also acquitted by a jury of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life.
The Ward brothers live in the official halting site in Tullamore, while the McDonaghs live at the unofficial halting site near the train station.
Both families have known each other for years and Michael and Anthony McDonagh’s sister Eileen is Patrick Ward’s partner and they have children together.
Prosecuting counsel Kevin White told the trial that at around 9.50pm on 21 March 2025 at the emergency department in Tullamore hospital, a row broke out between Michael McDonagh and his son Arthur and three members of the Ward family, who are cousins of the two men on trial.
The McDonaghs then drove back to their unofficial halting site in a white Ford Focus but a short time later at around 10.15pm, a large group arrived from the official halting site where the Wards live and attacked the McDonagh’s halting site.
Shots were fired and "pandemonium ensued" as men, women and children ran for cover.
Michael and Anthony McDonagh were both shot and injured in the chest, face and neck by pellets from cartridges discharged from what the prosecution says were twelve-gauge shotguns.
The weapons were never recovered.
Michael McDonagh testified during the trial that he recognised John Ward as the man who shot him, while Anthony McDonagh described "locking eyes" with Patrick 'Pa' Ward, claiming he shot him.
However, defence witness Eileen McDonagh said she was "devastated" when she found out that her two brothers, Anthony and Michael, had been shot, but she told the Central Criminal Court that her partner, Patrick 'Pa' Ward, "didn't do it".
Defence counsel Michael O’Higgins said there was not "one scintilla" of support for the evidence of Michael McDonagh and his identification of John Pio Ward as his assailant was, he said, "dodgy in the extreme".
Defence counsel for Patrick Ward, Damien Colgan, submitted that there was not "an iota or shred" of other evidence to support the testimony given by Anthony McDonagh.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for four hours and 20 minutes before finding both men not guilty by majority verdicts.
Mr Justice McDermott thanked them for their patience and attendance during the trial and excused them from jury service for five years.
He discharged the Ward brothers, who smiled and posed for photographs outside the court.
