More court reports in brief.
Man jailed for attacking partner
A "very dangerous" convicted sex offender has been given a four-year sentence for assaulting his partner who claimed he tried to hang her in their apartment to make it look like suicide.
Lech Szymczk (49), North Great Charles Street, Dublin, was described by Judge Tony Hunt as a "very dangerous person indeed" after it was revealed that his 10 previous convictions in Poland included sexual assault, aggravated assaults, threats, theft with violence, perjury and affray.
Szymczk was found guilty by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury in April following one hour's deliberation of assaulting his partner causing her harm on August 20th, 2006. He was found not guilty on charges of attempting to strangle her and causing her serious harm.
Judge Hunt imposed a sentence of four years imprisonment, with the final six months suspended, and said it might be a matter for the Minister for Justice to consider "questions of policy" regarding Szymczk's presence in this country given his previous convictions.
The woman said that after drinking 15 cans of beer, Szymczk tried to strangle her with the belt of her dressing gown to make it look like a suicide by hanging. She said he also severely beat her and threw a knife at her head before he then kept her tied up and held her captive until the morning.
Man in Dublin riot gets jail
A Dublin man who threw flagstones in O'Connell Street at gardaí during the Love Ulster parade in 2006 has been jailed for three years. John O'Reilly (31), Harcourt Street, was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury earlier this year of violent disorder on February 25th, 2006.
Judge Patrick McCartan criticised O'Reilly's "attempt to suggest he was innocent" during his trial in spite of "graphic" photographic evidence showing him throwing missiles and violently resisting arrest. The judge acknowledged O'Reilly's efforts to address his drink problem and suspended the final two years of the sentence.
Obscene texts sent to boy
A 64-year-old man who sent obscene texts to a 15-year-old boy has been ordered to pay €12,000 in compensation after a court heard how he had tricked the boy into giving him his mobile phone number. John Geaney, Ballinahina, White's Cross, Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to sending four indecent texts to the boy last June and persistently making sexually explicit phone calls to the boy.
Judge Patrick Moran indicated that he would impose a two-year suspended sentence in November if the defendant brought €12,000 compensation to court.
Garda Vincent Hurley said the teenager did not know the accused.
The boy was effectively picked at random after Geaney had approached him after he got off a school bus near his home in Co Cork and asked him to ring his mobile to see if it was working after getting wet.
Geaney then stored the boy's number in his phone.