A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Charged with threatening to kill
A man appeared in Dublin District Court yesterday charged with threatening to kill Joseph Rafferty who was shot dead in a separate incident in 2005. Michael Reynolds (22), Leo Fitzgerald House, Pearse Street, Dublin, was charged with making a threat, on October 13th, 2004, to Mr Rafferty that he would be killed. He was also charged with a separate threat in February 5th, 2005 to make the dead man's brother in law, Mark Uzell, believe that Joseph Rafferty would be killed.
Mr Rafferty (29), a father of one, was shot dead on the street in Ongar, Blanchardstown, on April 12th, 2005 by a lone gunman.
The judge remanded Mr Reynolds in custody with consent to bail to appear in Cloverhill District Court next Thursday.
Two held over shooting of garda
Gardaí were questioning three men last night in connection with the shooting of a Garda sergeant in Dublin early on Wednesday morning. Two men were arrested shortly after the shooting at 7am outside a house on Monasterboice Road, Crumlin.
The two, aged 16 and 22, were arrested when they crashed their car trying to escape the scene of the shooting. One of the men had shot at Sgt Mark Clarke of Crumlin station, wounding him in the arm and chest, while was on duty outside the Crumlin house. Shots had been fired at the house about an hour earlier as part of a feud between local families. Sgt Clarke was due to be released from St James's Hospital, Dublin, late last night or early today.
Young scientist is third in Europe
The winner of the BT Young Scientist of the year 2006 has taken third place at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Stockholm. Aisling Judge (15) developed a new way to test the safety of food for last January's competition in Dublin, a project that captured a top prize of €1,500.
At 14 Aisling was the youngest winner of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Now aged 15, she was one of the youngest competitors in Stockholm where she was up against 79 other winning projects from 33 countries and more than 120 competitors aged up to 20.
Woman killed in freak accident
A woman was killed in a freak accident in a car park when she became wedged between her car door and its frame, an inquest has heard. Miriam Cotter (42), of Celbridge, Co Kildare, had visited a family member in St James's Hospital, Dublin, when she returned to the hospital's underground car park on August 12th last year.
No one witnessed the accident but gardaí told Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday how they believe it unfolded. Attempting to exit the car park, Mrs Cotter scratched her car on a pillar and got out to investigate the damage, according to scenes examiner Det Garda Jerome Twomey.
"She then decided to seek assistance because her car was wedged up against the pillar and reached back in to get her keys . . . But she accidentally turned the keys clockwise instead of anti-clockwise. This caused the car to lurch forward, wedging Mrs Cotter . . . It was a tragic, tragic accident."
The car had been in gear and jumped forward about two feet, Det Garda Twomey added.