More news in brief
A Limerick man serving 10 years for transporting cocaine and ecstasy worth an estimated €2.4 million has been hit with another cash confiscation order by the State at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Patrick Forde (30) of Pallas Green, Limerick, was jailed by Judge Desmond Hogan on February 3rd, 2005, for transporting the drugs and given a concurrent five year sentence for laundering €70,000 he received by acting as a courier.
On May 5th, 2005, the judge ordered that €13,641.07 remaining in accounts operated by Forde should be forfeited to the State and has now made a further order for the confiscation of €4,950 cash found in his possession.
Attacker jailed despite apology
An 11th-hour apology for a "mean and petty" street attack on a teenager for his mobile phone did not save the accused from prison yesterday.
John Saul (21), of Rafter's Lane, Drimnagh, Dublin, had changed his ways since his involvement in the indiscriminate attack on a 19-year-old in Inchicore on November 10th, 2004, Dublin District Court heard.
But it was not enough to convince Judge John O'Neill, who jailed him for six months for this and another gang attack on a lone garda trying to arrest someone in a flats complex.
11-year-old boy charged with theft
An 11-year-old boy is facing a criminal prosecution for allegedly stealing a packet of jellies worth €2.
The south Dublin youngster is charged with the theft of the packet of jellies from a Spar shop, at the Woodstown Shopping Centre, Ballycullen Road, Dublin, on October 19th last, when he was 10, the Dublin Children's Court heard.
He was accompanied by his father in court for a preliminary doli incapax hearing to establish whether he understood what a crime was as he is under the age of 14.
During the hearing the shop manager said he caught the boy leaving the store with a packet of sweets and he apologised.
Judge Derek McVeigh held that the boy understood what a crime was by his apologies. The boy was remanded on bail until September after the court was told he was entering a not guilty plea.
Paedophile placed on sex register
A self-confessed paedophile has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register after pleading guilty at the Crown Court in Derry yesterday to sexually abusing a young boy and a young girl.
The man (61), who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of his two victims, admitted committing four sex offences against the boy and five sex offences against the girl on various dates between December 1977 and July 1986.
The defendant was remanded on continuing bail until the case is brought back to the court on August 31st.
Indecent assault sentence adjourned
A man is to be sentenced at the Crown Court in Derry after he admitted indecently assaulting a 21-year-old male.
William McGinley committed the offence in his city centre flat in Derry on March 30th, 2005. Sentencing was adjourned until September 15th.