The other stories of the from the courts...
Guilty plea to attack on cyclist
A Dublin man has received an 18-month suspended sentence for his role in assaulting a passing Chinese cyclist who was stabbed in the arm with a glass bottle.
Keith Dunne (22), Harelawn Crescent, Clondalkin, denied he had the bottle and claimed he punched the cyclist’s jaw once in self-defence after the man swung a bike lock at him and a co-accused, who is awaiting trial.
Garda Sgt Pádraig Powell told Cathleen Noctor, prosecuting, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, that the victim received up to seven stitches for his arm wound and four for a head wound.
Dunne pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Xinyu Fan as he cycled home through Harelawn Park, Clondalkin, in the early hours of July 17th, 2006.
Mr Fan had been on his way home from working at a local takeaway when the attack happened. Judge Katherine Delahunt accepted that the €2,500 “token of remorse” Dunne had in court for his victim had been difficult to raise because he had been in and out of work to date.
Rape sentence delay for psychiatric report
The sentencing of a man who broke into a couple’s home and raped a woman after tying up her boyfriend and attacking him with a knife and baton has been adjourned by a judge until January.
Edward Piotrowski (45), a Polish national, of Clonmullen Hall, Edenderry, Co Offaly, was convicted, following a 10-day trial last month at the Central Criminal Court, of rape and oral rape in November 2007.
Piotrowski was also found guilty of trespass while armed, false imprisonment of the woman and her boyfriend, aggravated sexual assault and raping the woman with an implement on the same date.
Piotrowski had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman’s boyfriend.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton adjourned the sentence hearing because his order for a psychiatric report had not been communicated to the Central Mental Hospital.
Woman faces 87 sex assault charges
A 59-year-old woman has been charged with 87 counts of indecent assault.
The charges relate to seven women who were allegedly assaulted at an Offaly primary school in the 1970s.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had nothing to say when she was charged with the offences, arresting garda Olive Dreelan told Tullamore District Court.
The charges relate to dates between September 1st, 1973, and July 1st, 1977.
There are a total of 20 charges each relating to three girls, 10 charges each relating to two girls, one charge relating to one girl and six charges relating to the final girl.
Insp Joe Prendergast told the court that the DPP had directed the woman be tried on indictment and requested time for a book of evidence to be prepared.
Judge Gerard Haughton released the woman on her own bail of €1,000 to appear in January. He also advised that no details be disclosed that might lead to the identification of the parties.