A round-up of today’s other stories in brief
Drug charge man allowed to travel
A District judge yesterday granted an application by a man facing cocaine charges to have his electronic tag removed to enable him to go to Amsterdam next week with his partner,
writes George Jackson.
Barney McElholm granted the application at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry when he was told there was no police objection.
John Paul Murray (29), of Temple Park in Derry, had been released from a previous court hearing on bail.
He is charged with possessing cocaine and possessing it with intent to supply last December. As part of bail conditions he was electronically tagged and had to observe a 12-hour curfew.
The defendant is due to appear in court again on November 4th.
New Shannon to Paris service due
A new service from Shannon to Paris will be in place by early next year, the Director of Shannon airport has pledged,
writes Kathryn Hayes.
Martin Moroney said: “We will get another airline to service Paris/Charles De Gaulle which is a better airport in the city connecting on to other parts of the globe and we will get that airline very quickly.”
He refused to say which airline would be operating the new service but said it would be in place soon.
Speaking on Limerick’s Live 95FM radio station, he said: “All I can say is a service to Paris Charles to Gaulle will happen, hopefully early in the new year.”
Drowned man was over alcohol limit
A Connemara man who drowned was more than three times over the legal alcohol driving limit when he went fishing in his currach, an inquest heard yesterday.
Padraic Ó Cualáin (58), from Drioshearta Mór, An Cheatru Rua, Co Galway, drowned after going fishing on a Sunday afternoon in May.
Coroner Dr Ciaran McLoughlin heard there was concern when it was established that Mr Ó Cualáin had gone fishing as he had consumed a lot of drink. His body was found floating face-down about 100 metres from the currach.
Pathologist Dr Peter Szontagh-Kishazi said the cause of death was drowning.
Sentence for sexual assault on girl (13) increased by two years
A Co Limerick man who “terrorised” a 13-year-old girl during a prolonged sexual assault has had his prison sentence increased by two years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The three-judge court ruled the original term of imprisonment imposed on the 48-year-old man had been unduly lenient and a departure from the norm in the sentencing structure for sexual assault. It increased the sentence of four years with two years suspended to six years with two years suspended. The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, had pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the girl on February 24th, 2007. At the original sentence hearing last year, Judge Carroll Moran also ordered the man be put on the sex offenders’ register on his release.