A man (22) appeared in court this morning charged with the murder of a pensioner in Dublin earlier this month.
Gerard Cullen Brady, originally of Clondalkin but with no fixed abode, replied "Not guilty" when charged last night.
Detective Inspector Gabriel O'Gara told Dublin District Court the accused was arrested at a hostel in Parkgate Street in the north inner city at 7.20am yesterday.
The unemployed man was taken to Kevin Street Garda Station and questioned for almost 12 hours before being charged last night.
Det Insp O'Gara said the 80-year-old convicted stalker was murdered in his sheltered accommodation at Robinsons Court in Cork Street at a time yet unknown between August 13th and 14th.
The accused was remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court on September 1st.
Vincent Plunkett (80) was found with his throat slit in a sheltered housing unit in the south inner city on August 14th. His had been discovered by a home help who called to the ground floor apartment at Robinson's Court, Cork Street.
A postmortem found the pensioner suffered a violent death, with stab injuries to his head and throat.
Mr Plunkett, a retired traffic warden from Athlone, Co Westmeath, was given a three-month suspended sentence and fined eight years ago for terrorising a young married couple.
Three months after the court case, the 24-year-old father hanged himself.