A jury has been discharged in the trial of a 35-year-old Englishman charged with raping a woman in Bandon, Co Cork, in January 2002.
The accused man had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping the 28-year-old woman and to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to her on the same occasion.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to the woman.
Mr Justice Henry Abbott told the jury of nine men and three women that circumstances had arisen which made it necessary to halt the trial and begin again before a new jury. He said these circumstances were beyond his and the jury's control. The case has been relisted for trial.
Tributes paid to accident victim
Tributes were yesterday paid to a leading Irish amateur cyclist, one of two young men who died following a road accident near Blarney in Co Cork. Mr Kieran MacMahon (29), Clonlara, Co Clare, had competed in five FBD Rás cycling races and represented Ireland in international competitions in South Africa, Greece and Slovakia.
Mr MacMahon died with 23-year-old Mr Mark Burton, Parteen, Co Clare, after their Citroen car was in collision with a lorry on the main Cork to Mallow road on Monday morning.
Both men worked at a storage company in Limerick and it is understood they were travelling to a training course in Cork when the accident happened.
In the recent FBD Rás race, Mr MacMahon was a member of the Earl of Desmond cycling team that captured the county prize.
The secretary of the Earl of Desmond Cycling Club in Tralee, Mr Michael Hall, said Mr MacMahon was a dedicated cyclist.
Mr Martin Philips of Limerick Cycling Club also paid tribute to him.
Dead man was Lithuanian
The man whose body was found dumped in bushes near the Dublin/Meath border was from Lithuania and only arrived in Ireland last week. Gardaí were not releasing his name until a family member could confirm he had travelled to Ireland in the last 10 days.
Sources confirmed that the gardaí have been looking at members of the Lithuanian community living in the Blanchardstown area of Dublin. It is not clear whether the deceased had travelled to Ireland to work and the investigation into his death is continuing.
Counterfeit notes warning
Gardaí in Galway are warning business people and members of the public to remain on the lookout for high-quality counterfeit €100 and €50 notes in circulation in the city.
The fake notes have been in circulation during the past couple of weeks.
A spokesman at Mill Street Garda Station said they were expecting more of the notes to come into circulation during the upcoming holiday period.
"We are advising the public and business people in particular to be very wary of taking these notes over the coming weeks. All businesses should have an ultraviolet light machine to detect fake notes as they are very difficult to detect otherwise," he said.