In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Man guilty of assaulting and raping daughter

A Roscommon man has been convicted of 74 counts of raping and sexually assaulting his daughter.

The 71-year-old said sorry to the victim and her mother as he was being led away by prison officers after the verdict.

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He was remanded in custody until his sentence hearing after the prosecution objected to his application for bail.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, used to play soccer in his youth with two English teams.

He had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 60 counts of sexual assault and 14 counts of rape between January 2002 and September 2006 at locations in Galway and Roscommon.

The judge ordered the accused be registered as a sex offender and ordered a victim impact report be prepared for the sentence hearing in May.

Legal costs order in 'Tribune' case

A High Court judge has ordered the receiver of the Sunday Tribuneto provide security for the legal costs of his action over publication by the Irish Mail On Sunday(IMOS) of an alleged fake copy of the Tribune.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said she would fix the level of costs on April 4th and described as "exaggerated" a figure of €700,000 for costs referred to by the IMOS in a letter to the receiver.

The IMOShad applied to the court for an order requiring receiver Jim Luby to provide security for the costs of the Commercial Court proceedings initiated earlier this month. Mr Luby had opposed that application.

Granting the application, the judge noted that the receiver had been appointed to pursue the action by a division of Independent News and Media, “a significant commercial operation”.

€160,000 cannabis find in Leitrim

A cannabis grow house containing plants with an estimated value of €160,000 was discovered in Co Leitrim yesterday.

The discovery was made following a search of two houses in Dromod in the south of the county.

The Garda National Drugs Unit and gardaí based at Carrick-on-Shannon, along with the Garda Air Support Unit, took part in the operation.

A Garda spokesman said the two semi-detached houses in the village had been adapted as “cannabis cultivation sites”.

Some 400 plants with an estimated street value of €160,000 were seized, although this is subject to analysis.

A 25-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, both thought to be foreign nationals, were arrested and are being held at Carrick- on-Shannon Garda station.

Pair who helped killers sentenced

Two people who were found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in Tralee last November of helping two brothers evade apprehension after they had stabbed a man in “a savage” killing in Killarney in 2007 have been sentenced to prison.

Thomas O’Brien (33), Pinewood Estate, Killarney, was sentenced to four years in jail with two suspended, while Lisa O’Sullivan (28), Wellington Road, Cork, now living at Coolies, Muckross, Killarney, received a four-year suspended term.

Both were found guilty of helping Gerard and Shane O’Riordan evade arrest after the brothers killed James Brazier (30) in a house in the Pinewood Estate.