A round-up of today's other stories brief...
Dublin car dealer jailed for 'clocking' cars imported from UK
A Dublin car dealer has been jailed for 12 months for “clocking” cars imported from Britain. Jeffrey Beere (28) sold three cars for about €20,000 each between June and November 2008 through advertising on car sales websites.
Beere, Monkstown Mews, Newtown Park, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to altering the odometers of an Audi TT, Volkswagen Golf and Audi A4 in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. Judge Katherine Delahunt accepted Beere’s early guilty plea and the fact he had not come to Garda attention since. She noted his good background and education at St Andrew’s College but said he had “systematically” clocked cars and claimed the protection of caveat emptor [let the buyer beware].
Farmer died in bid to get cow off rail line
A Co Clare farmer died after a train struck him while he attempted to push a cow off a rail line, an inquest has heard.
James McInerney (62) died on June 27th last after the incident on a railway crossing near his home in Ralahine South, Newmarket-on-Fergus. Limerick’s coroner’s court heard yesterday that train driver Anthony Ryan was driving towards the crossing at 50mph when he saw someone attempting to push a cow off the line. He recalled that the train hit the cow but said he was not immediately aware a person had been struck until the train stopped and he went to investigate.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
Two who robbed car park office jailed
Two men who broke into a car park office and stole about €9,500 from a safe and pay- and-display units have each been sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Ionel Popa (25) admitted he parked his car in the car park during the day, was buzzed back in with his accomplice Alin Carmaz (24) after closing time and broke into the office safe using a crowbar, which he had stored in his vehicle.
Garda Erin Leigh said Popa later admitted he had spent his takings on “fun, nightclubs and discos” while Carmaz claimed he got only €500, which he sent home to his family via Western Union.
The two men, both Romanian nationals, North Circular Road, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to trespass and theft of the money from Setanta car park, Setanta Place, on December 28th, 2009.
Man pleads guilty to manslaughter
A man has pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the manslaughter of a woman in the city last year.
Wesley Ward (33), Áras na Cluaine, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Tracey O’Brien on June 25th. Judge Katherine Delahunt remanded him on continuing bail until his sentence hearing next year.
Charity activist Christina Noble honoured by Vietnam president
Irish charity campaigner Christina Noble has been awarded the Order of Friendship by the Vietnamese government, it was announced yesterday.
The decision was made by Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh Triet. Ms Noble has been working with children in Vietnam since 1990 and has established more than 100 projects in the country. These projects have helped more than 600,000 children and their families.
“I want to say to the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people, ‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart’,” Ms Noble said. “There has never been a more important time to pull together and support each other and that has always been our ethos in Vietnam.”
Half a century of photos go on line
More than 50 years of wedding and family photographs, taken between 1900 and 1952, are to be made available on the Flickr social networking service.
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is to make the portraits, taken by Allison Photographic Studios in Armagh, available on the photo-sharing website.
The photos are being transferred from fragile glass plate negatives which were commonly used by photographers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They can be seen at www.proni.gov.uk/ pronionflickr.
Call for 7.5% cut in builders' pay
The Construction Industry Federation has urged the Labour Court to implement its recommendation for a 7.5 per cent cut in pay for workers in the building sector.
The recommendation, issued in July, said the proposed cut should be regarded as a “temporary measure” or derogation from rates set out in the registered employment agreement, which sets out minimum terms and conditions for the 100,000 or more workers in the sector.
It said the continued application of the pay cut should be reviewed in January 2012 and in each subsequent year.
14 terriers 'surrendered' by puppy farm
The ISPCA says it has found 12 Yorkshire terriers and two West Highland terriers, with severely matted coats and living in their own faeces, with no access to clean water, when it visited a puppy farm near Mallow, Co Cork.
“Some of these dogs were locked into sheds where the stench of urine was unbearable,” an ISPCA inspector said yesterday. “Their bedding was wet and covered in faeces with no access to natural daylight.” They were surrendered to the ISPCA and seen by a vet. They are expected to make a full recovery.