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OCT 20 2022
Ennis murderer attacked second woman by GORDON DEEGAN
T
HE man who murdered mother of two Sharon Bennett (29) in an Ennis public toilet, attacked another woman in her own bedroom just one month
earlier. At Ennis District Court, Judge Mary Larkin imposed a nine month prison term on Patrick Ballard (35), formerly of Ashford Court Hotel, Ennis for the assault on the woman at her Ennis home two days prior to Christmas Day
in December 2020. Imposing the prison term on Mr Ballard for the December 23 assault, Judge Larkin said that “the fact that this woman was attacked in her bedroom when he kicked down the door must have been an extraordinarily frightening event”. Judge Larkin said: “It wasn’t just a once-off event - Mr Ballard has 140 previous convictions and that has to be deemed quite significant in the context of offending behaviour.” FULL STORY pg 4