A round-up to today's other stories in brief.
Youth threw his driving papers at garda
A teenager who threw his driving documents to a garda across a courtroom bench was warned he would face seven days in prison for contempt if his disrespectful attitude continued.
Andrew Graham (19), Rutland Grove, Crumlin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to a number of offences relating to his driving licence, car test certificate and tax three times last year.
At the start of the case, he was asked to produce his driving documents and threw them on to a bench separating the dock from the witness box towards Garda Orla Nolan. As Garda Nolan went to get the documents, Judge Aeneas McCarthy told her to stay where she was and told Mr Graham to pick them up.
As Judge McCarthy began imposing fines, he asked Mr Graham how long he needed to pay them, but he could not be heard. Judge McCarthy told him to stand up and stay standing. "Any more disrespect to this court and you will go into custody for seven days."
He fined him €1,000 and banned him from driving for six months.
Couple assaulted after killing
A man who assaulted a couple in Dublin city centre just minutes after he had killed a Vietnamese man and assaulted a Chinese man has been jailed for a year at the Central Criminal Court.
James Harmer (28), originally from England, who was staying in the Abbey Court Hostel, Bachelors Walk, struck Geraldine Murphy and assaulted her husband, Christopher, as the couple left a night's socialising on Bachelors Walk.
Harmer was jailed for five years last year for the manslaughter of Ly Minh Luong (50) and for assaulting Wei Dong (37) at Temple Bar in Dublin in August 2002.
Det Garda Conor Ó Braonáin said the assault on the Murphys had occurred shortly after the attack in Temple Bar, when Harmer and an accomplice ran across the Ha'penny Bridge to Bachelors Walk.
Mr Murphy told gardaí Harmer had shoved his hand between Ms Murphy's legs from behind quite forcefully and she staggered forward.
Mr Justice Butler described the assault on Mr Murphy as appalling and said there appeared to have been an attempt to throw him into the river.
He sentenced Harmer to one year for assaulting Mr Murphy and six months for the assault on his wife, to run concurrently on the expiration of his sentence for manslaughter.
Hospital accused of incompetence
A district court judge has accused the administration team at a hospital in the North Eastern Health Board area of the Health Service Executive of "crass incompetence".
Judge Seán MacBride rebuked the management of Cavan General Hospital for failing to provide a medical report for Monaghan District Court on a person involved in an assault case.
Stephen Creighton, Beechgrove Lawns, Monaghan, was charged with assault causing harm at Monaghan on October 31st.
Garda Insp Patrick McMorrow said the case had been adjourned two months ago to facilitate the preparation of the report but it was still not available.
Judge MacBride directed gardaí to write again to the Cavan hospital authorities and request the report while conveying his displeasure. "This court cannot tolerate such crass incompetence, I won't tolerate it."
The case was further adjourned.