In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Man denies Belfast murder nine years ago

A man accused of murdering a woman in Belfast nine years ago is denying the charge, his lawyer told a court yesterday.

Wong Sui Ching (43) was before Belfast Magistrates' Court. He was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport this week, and brought back to Belfast by PSNI detectives.

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He was charged with murdering Ho Mi Ye (29), a waitress found strangled in a house at Isoline Street, East Belfast, in June 1998.

Magistrate Ken Nixon remanded Wong Sui Ching in custody until July 20th.

Foul play ruled out in woman's death

Gardaí have ruled out foul play in the death of a woman whose body was found in a house at Clonmel, Co Tipperary, this week. It is understood a postmortem carried out at Wexford General Hospital yesterday concluded the woman died of natural causes.

The woman, in her mid-30s, had not been named up to last night.

She was found dead in a house at O'Connell Court at 3.15pm on Thursday.

Man charged with unlawful killing

A man was charged with unlawful killing and dangerous driving causing death at Dún Laoghaire District Court yesterday.

Mark Kenna (23), of Glenaan Road, Whitehall, Dublin, was charged with the unlawfully killing of Daragh Carroll on January 18th, 2007, on the M50 northbound at Edmondstown.

Mr Kenna was also charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death, three counts of dangerous driving, and with having no insurance and no licence.

Judge Clare Leonard remanded him in custody to Cloverhill Prison pending an appearance at Cloverhill Court next Friday.

Murder trial hears of fatal stabbing

The state pathologist for Northern Ireland told a jury in the Central Criminal Court that the fatal wound in the stabbing of a man outside a Dublin off-licence might not have required as much force as suggested by the chief State Pathologist.

Prof Jack Crane said he disagreed with Prof Marie Cassidy when she said in her postmortem report that the wound would have required moderate or severe force.

He was testifying in the case of Gary Gleeson (23), of Lisryan, Granard, Co Longford, who denies the murder of Gavin Weldon (19) on July 5th, 2005.

The trial continues.

Judge 'fed up' with speeding notices

A judge "fed up" with people saying they did not receive notices for speeding said yesterday he would not accept it as an excuse any longer. Judge Hugh O'Donnell was dealing with dozens of summonses against people who had not paid fixed-penalty notices for speeding and ended up before Dublin District Court.

Lawyers for several people said their clients had not had a chance to pay for fixed-penalty notices because they had not received them.

Judge O'Donnell said he was not accepting their arguments. "Most people just come in and admit it."

Most of Judge O'Donnell's fines were €80, the same amount offenders would have had to pay for the fixed penalty. However, they got four penalty points on their licences, as against two had they paid the fixed-penalty notices.

Suspended term for selling cocaine

A father of one who was selling cocaine to feed his habit received a three-year suspended prison sentence when he appeared before Cork Circuit Cork yesterday.

Mark Hennessey, of Presentation Place, Greenmount, Cork, was convicted of having cocaine for sale at his home on December 18th, 2005, and having cannabis.