More court reports in brief.
Man denies murder by stabbing
The trial has started in the Central Criminal Court of a homeless man accused of murder by stabbing another in the jugular vein with a shard of glass.
Gregory Conway (36) denies the murder of Liam Murphy, also known as Liam Maguire, in Dundalk, Co Louth, in June last year.
Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, told the jurors they would hear that Mr Murphy was a lonely man who lived a very unstable life. He was a chronic alcoholic who was "very free" in allowing people into his house to drink with him.
He was also the kind of man who was frequently "sponged off" by the type of people he allowed in.
On the day of his death he had invited four homeless men back to his house and they had been drinking there all afternoon.
Mr Conway and another man were twice sent out to buy more drink. At some stage a row developed and a glass-fronted cabinet was smashed, leaving shards of glass on the floor.
It was the prosecution's case that one of the shards of glass from the cabinet was used to inflict these wounds. Later that night Mr Conway was himself attacked and badly beaten but he refused to go in the ambulance.
He was given fresh clothes and cleaned up his injuries then went to an abandoned house, where he was later arrested by gardaí.
The trial resumes this morning before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury.
Gilligan to appeal legal aid refusal
Convicted drugs criminal John Gilligan is to appeal to the Supreme Court against the refusal to grant him legal aid for a constitutional challenge as part of his ongoing battle with the Criminal Assets Bureau over freezing his assets worth an estimated €17 million.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Kevin Feeney was told that Gilligan was in the process of lodging his appeal against that refusal to the Supreme Court. He is challenging Section 3 of the Act which provides for the freezing of assets. That hearing was due to open yesterday but will not now proceed until after the Supreme Court has determined the appeal.
Gilligan had applied for legal aid under the Attorney General scheme.
DPP says five got fair murder trial
The DPP has claimed that five Limerick men, convicted of the murder of crime boss Kieran Keane and the attempted murder of his nephew Owen Treacy, received a fair trial and the verdicts against them were not influenced by the media coverage the trial received.
Paul Burns SC, for the DPP, was making submissions opposing the appeal against their 2003 convictions brought by Desmond Dundon (23), Hyde Road, Limerick; David Stanners (34), Pineview Gardens, Moyross; James McCarthy (27), Delmege Park, Moyross; Christopher Costelloe (23), Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty Beg, and Anthony McCarthy (24), Fairgreen, Garryowen.
On the second day of their appeal at the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Burns yesterday rejected arguments that media coverage had prejudiced the men's right to a fair trial. Mr Justice Paul Carney had warned the jury to ignore media reports.
Mr Burns was responding to Jerome Lynch QC, for Dundon, who had argued that press contamination had led to an unfair trial. Mr Lynch submitted Mr Justice Carney had "failed to curtail the media" and that the jury was bound to be affected by "constant press attention".