The other news stories of the day...
Man jailed for 10 years for having drugs
A father of six has been jailed for 10 years for possession of a gun, ammunition and drugs worth more than €300,000.
James O’Reilly (32), Earlsfort Road, Lucan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having a loaded revolver, 27 rounds of ammunition and quantities of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines for sale or supply when gardaí raided his home on December 6th, 2007.
Det Garda Diarmuid Maguire of the organised crime unit told Kerida Naidoo, prosecuting, that a “cocaine- processing factory” was discovered in a garden shed at the back of the house.
Pieter Le Vert, defending, said his client had lost his brother when he was shot dead outside Cloverhill Prison a number of years ago.
Judge Frank O’Donnell said O’Reilly was “very deeply involved” in the processing of drugs and did not “have the cloak of addiction around him”.
Despite his previous drug convictions, O’Reilly was “still going at it in a big way” when gardaí raided his home and the gun was “ready to go and would have used it if the occasion had arisen”.
Judge O’Donnell imposed the mandatory 10-year sentence for the drugs offence.
No evidence of false allegation
A judge has directed the acquittal of a prison officer accused of making a false needle-prick allegation in Mountjoy Prison.
Judge Patricia Ryan directed the jury to acquit Robert O’Neill (44) after a defence application to withdraw the case because there was no evidence to prove Mr O’Neill had made a false allegation.
Mr O’Neill, North Circular Road, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to making a false allegation on May 5th, 2006, that his hand was pricked by a syringe left on the palm reader at Mountjoy Prison the previous day.
Seán Gillane SC, defending, submitted that the prosecution had produced no evidence to suggest his client was guilty and that its case was relying on speculation and conjecture.
Judge Ryan accepted Mr Gillane’s application to direct an acquittal stating that she would be asking the jury to speculate if the case went before it. She discharged the seven women and five men of the jury and thanked them for completing their civic duty.
Daughter claims father raped her
A Carlow woman has told the Central Criminal Court that she was raped weekly throughout her early teens by her father. The now 25-year- old woman sobbed throughout her evidence as she told the court her father first sexually assaulted her when she was aged about seven and living in Carlow.
The 48-year-old Carlow man has pleaded not guilty to 72 counts of rape, oral rape and sexual assault against the woman at locations in Kildare, Laois and Carlow between January 17th, 1991, and December 31st, 2008.
The trial will continue on Tuesday before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury.
Students protest over late grants
MORE THAN 40 third-level students occupied the offices of Wicklow County Council yesterday in protest at the late payment of grants.
The students, who are members of the Union of Students in Ireland, “stormed” the council chambers at about 1pm but were removed by gardaí to a lobby area, union deputy president Dan O’Neill said.
The occupation is just the first step in a long campaign to get student grants paid, Mr O’Neill said.
The students left the building yesterday evening.
'Glimmer of light' in death enquiry
The Garda inquiry into the death of a father of one is proving difficult, but there is still a “glimmer of light” gardaí will send a file to the DPP, an inquest has heard.
Eddie McCabe (21) of Rafter’s Lane, Dublin 12, died at St James’s Hospital on December 8th, 2006, a week after he was found badly beaten in a laneway.
X-ray reveals smuggled pet pooch
Customs officers discovered a Chihuahua when they scanned the hand luggage of a male passenger arriving at Dublin airport yesterday afternoon.
The dog (shown above) had been smuggled from Bulgaria to the Spanish capital Madrid and then on to Dublin.
A Revenue spokesman said officers had “discovered a Chihuahua-type toy dog which had been placed in a small cage and hidden in a holdall bag. When Customs officers examined the luggage the image of a dog in a small cage appeared on the X-ray screen”.
The dog was later handed over to Department of Agriculture officials and is now in quarantine.
Det Insp JJ Keane of Kilmainham Garda station told the Coroner’s Court yesterday the inquiry into the death was ongoing, but there was still “a glimmer of light we’ll get a file to the DPP”.