A round up of today's other courts news in brief
Man gets eight years for manslaughter
A 25-year-old Tralee man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the manslaughter of a homeless father-of-four by stamping on his head.
Brendan O’Connor, Molanee House, Monnavalley, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to killing fellow Kerry man Edward Joseph Clancy (50) on August 15th, 2006 on Bridge Street, Tralee.
He had originally pleaded not guilty to Mr Clancy’s killing, but changed his plea to guilty of manslaughter at the opening of his trial for murder in November.
Christian Brother jailed for a year
A Christian Brother was jailed for one year yesterday by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he admitted to sexually assaulting four students in an industrial school 45 years ago.
Stephen Allen (77), with an address at Christian Brothers Provincial, Griffith Avenue, Marino, Dublin, molested the young teenage boys while they were working under his supervision in the kitchen of the school.
Judge Frank O’Donnell heard from victim impact statements from the men, now aged between 57 and 61 years old, that they had been significantly affected by Allen’s abuse.
Manslaughter verdict urged
The barrister defending an alcoholic drug addict accused of murdering a pensioner because he sprayed fire extinguisher foam at him has encouraged the jury to find the homeless man guilty of manslaughter instead, possibly because he was drunk.
After three weeks of evidence, Erwan Mill Arden SC said it would be difficult to find his client not guilty of anything, but said there was an alternative verdict, manslaughter.
Stephen Byrne (36) has pleaded not guilty to murdering 69-year-old William Traynor in his home on Sunday June 17th, 2007.
Appeal against conviction fails
A man has lost his bid to overturn his conviction for conspiring to procure weapons, including rocket launchers, for a Limerick criminal gang alleged to be shopping for weapons from prison.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal, with Mr Justice Nial Fennelly presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice John MacMenamin, yesterday rejected Glen Geasley’s claims of an unfair trial.
Geasley (28), Innishmore Drive, Ballincollig, Co Cork, was convicted and jailed for 12 years in February 2008, with five years suspended, after weapons were recovered following a covert Garda operation at the Ibis Hotel, Dunkettle, Cork, in April 2007 as a result of a joint operation with the British police.
Former Brother on assault charges
The jury in the trial of a former Marist Brother and teacher at a Sligo school accused of indecently assaulting six pupils has heard evidence that the complainants’ names appeared in the school rollbook during the relevant time.
The 64-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to a total of 84 charges of indecently assaulting six males, aged between six and 12-years-old, on dates unknown between 1968 and 1977 in a primary school.