A round-up of other courts news in brief
Body of man discovered in Donegal ditch
Gardaí were yesterday examining the remote scene where the body of a 62-year-old man was found in a ditch in Glencolumbkille, Co Donegal.
A postmortem was due to be carried out on the body of retired bus driver Séamus Lyons who was in Donegal to visit his mother in hospital.
Mr Lyons, who was living in Dublin, was married with adult children. He was last seen shortly after midnight on Sunday after leaving a pub to walk to his family home at Gannew, Glencolumbkille.
A search was launched when he was reported missing on Monday evening and the Coast Guard helicopter from Strandhill, Co Sligo, was alerted.
Mr Lyons’s body was found in a marsh ditch about 50km (31 miles) from his family home.
There was evidence that he had fallen through a fence into the ditch.
Gardaí said that initial investigations did not indicate foul play. A spokesman said: “It looks like there has been a tragic accident.”
Woman held after cocaine seized
A woman in her 30s has been arrested following a raid on a house in which €35,000 worth of cocaine was discovered.
Gardaí seized the drugs during a planned search of a house on the Templeowen housing estate in Tullow, Co Carlow, shortly before midnight on Monday.
The woman is being detained at Carlow Garda station under section two of the Drugs Trafficking Act.
Heroin found in Gaeltacht house
Gardaí have recovered €6,000 worth of heroin in a remote area of the west Donegal Gaeltacht.
The drug was seized in a raid on a cottage in the hills outside Lettermacaward in the early hours of Sunday.
A man in his 30s was arrested and questioned at Glenties Garda station. He was later released and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Apology for foul language
A motorist caught with a lump of cannabis on the dashboard of his car used foul language in front of Judge Mary Fahy at Galway District Court yesterday when she disqualified him from driving for two years for using his car with the drug on board.
John Ward (20), of Gaelcarrig Park, Newcastle, Galway, pleaded guilty to being found in possession of cannabis resin on November 20th, 2008, when his car was searched by gardaí.
He did not react when Judge Fahy fined him €600 for the offence.
However, he became very agitated and used foul language when the judge disqualified him from driving for two years for using the car in relation to the same charge.
Judge Fahy told Ward she had heard everything he said and warned him she would hold him in contempt of court for seven days for using such language if he did not apologise immediately.
Ward, on the advice of his solicitor Sarah O’Dowd, apologised to the court.
1.9m for college in Waterford
Waterford Institute of Technology is to receive nearly €1.9 million from the Department of Education and Science to assist small-scale works to be carried out at the institute during the summer months.
The institute is to receive €1,893,440, the eighth largest of the allocations to 23 Irish higher education institutions covered by the fund, which totals €40 million.
Three-quarters, or 75 per cent, of the grant will be allocated in the coming weeks while the balance will be paid later this year.