A round-up of today's other court stories in brief.
Legal argument continues in O'Reilly trial
Legal argument in the absence of the jury continued at the trial of Joe O'Reilly for the murder of his wife, Rachel, at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
It was the ninth day of the trial of Mr O'Reilly (35), Lambay View, Baldarragh, The Naul, Co Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 30-year-old wife and mother of their two children, at the family home on October 4th, 2004.
The jury of nine men and two women are to be informed that the legal argument will continue until Monday and they will not be required to attend until then.
Libel action fixed for hearing
A libel action by a Ukrainian woman who survived the car crash in Moscow in which former TD Liam Lawlor died has been fixed for hearing before the High Court in November.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne yesterday fixed November 6th for the action by Julia Kushnir against the Sunday World newspaper.
The court will on Monday decide whether three other libel actions taken by Ms Kushnir against other Irish newspapers will be heard at the same time or directly after the Sunday World case.
Ms Kushnir's other actions relate to articles in the Sunday Tribune, the Sunday Independent and the Irish Independent. Those cases have also been listed for November 6th.
Ms Kushnir had travelled to Ireland for her libel action last February but had to return home when her case was not heard. Her counsel asked the court yesterday to fix a new hearing date for the case. Ms Kushnir has a number of witnesses who have to travel from abroad including the Czech Republic, New York and Israel.
The cases arise from reports of the October 2005 car crash in Moscow in which Mr Lawlor died. Ms Kushnir previously settled an action against the Observer newspaper.
Murphy appeals slander finding
Businessman Joseph Murphy is appealing to the Supreme Court against a jury's decision that he should pay €300,000 damages to a Co Sligo man for slander.
One third of the amount is to be paid in October next but the High Court has placed a stay on payment of the rest pending the outcome of the appeal.
Hugh Mohan SC, for Mr Murphy, a director of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering Ltd, told the High Court yesterday Mr Murphy was appealing against both the finding of slander and the level of the award in the case. This was "an extraordinary sum of money for a slander action".
The €300,000 was awarded last month against Mr Murphy, who has a London address, to a self-employed contractor, Michael McManus in defamation proceedings brought against Mr Murphy.
Mr McManus, Mulberry Park, Ballinoade, Co Sligo, had sued the businessman over comments made by Mr Murphy in Flynn's pub in Arigna, Co Leitrim, to Mr McManus's brother Eoin following a funeral.
The jury decided, by a majority verdict, that the words uttered by Mr Murphy in the pub meant that Mr McManus was responsible for or involved in an arson where two excavators were destroyed in a quarry in Arigna.
Colm Smyth SC, for Mr McManus, said he could not imagine a case of more serious slander.