A round-up of today's other court stories in brief:
Trial follows diver's death during salvage
A diving company director charged with health and safety breaches arising out of the death of one of his employees during a salvage operation was sent in Dublin District Court for trial yesterday.
Nigel Hoblyn, Cornwall, England, faces five summonses alleging breaches of health and safety at a place of work between Middle Mark and Bligh Mark in Dublin Bay in July 2004.
His company, North East Diving Services Ltd, Fade Street, Dublin, faces similar charges. It is alleged he and the company supplied inappropriate or defective equipment used by Damien Byrne (24) during an operation to refloat a yacht which had sunk earlier that day near Dún Laoghaire.
Mr Byrne, a recently qualified professional diver, was brought to the surface after getting into difficulties but died a short time later.
Man remanded on abduction charges
A man has been remanded in custody after being charged with a further two offences following an incident last December when a woman was abducted at knifepoint and had her car hijacked in Co Cork.
Pawel Folta, Fermoy, had already been charged with falsely imprisoning a woman at the Texaco garage, Cork Road, Fermoy, with stealing her mobile phone and €30 in cash and with stealing her car on December 8th.
At Mitchelstown District Court yesterday, Mr Folta, a native of Poland, was further charged with hijacking and with producing a weapon with intent to intimidate.
Judge Michael Pattwell remanded him in custody to appear again next Friday.
Two fined for public indecency
Two men, one of whom is Irish, were spotted by passengers engaging in sexually explicit behaviour on a flight from Asia to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. But, after each was fined €1,000 for violation of public decency on landing, they refused to pay.
The Irish man, who is said to be in his early 50s and from Dublin, was seated in business class with a much younger companion who has Korean nationality, Dutch authorities said.
The passengers engaged in "explicit" sexual behaviour throughout the flight, despite being told to stop by the purser.
They were seated in business class where champagne and canapes had been served shortly before fellow passengers noticed that they were allegedly having oral sex.
A spokeswoman for Haarlem district court confirmed that a dossier on the incident had been compiled after the case was passed on to them by military police at the airport during the first week of January.
According to the press officer for Schiphol public prosecutor's office, the six- week deadline for payment of the fines by the men has still not expired.
"But if they don't pay up soon, the matter will go to court. A dossier is being put together right now and they will be subpoenaed to attend," he said.
Man charged with rape of minor
A man charged with the rape of a minor was yesterday remanded in custody for 30 days at Waterford District Court.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged under Section 2 of the Criminal Law Rape Act 1981 following an alleged attack on a 14-year-old girl in the early hours of January 23rd last.