Today's other courts related stories in brief
Murder trial jury sent home for third night
A jury at the trial of a Dublin man accused of murder has been sent home for a third night. The six men and six women have so far been deliberating for eight hours.
Brian Rattigan (28), Cooley Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Declan Gavin (20), Mourne Road, Drimnagh, at Crumlin Road on August 25th, 2001.
It is the prosecution’s case that Mr Rattigan got out of a car outside the Abrakebabra fast-food outlet at Crumlin shopping centre before he stabbed Mr Gavin in a “targeted attack”. The jury will resume its deliberations this morning.
Witness claims man raped her
The trial of a man accused of raping and threatening to kill a newly arrived fellow Latvian national whom he had met on a night out in Dublin has opened at the Central Criminal Court.
The 32-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to three charges of rape, oral rape and a threat to kill a then 19-year-old woman near Dublin city centre on November 10th, 2007.
The woman told Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, that the man raped her but she said “I can’t” when he asked her to describe what had happened to her. The trial continues.
Woman awarded 60,000
The mother of a teenage boy who died, after undergoing a procedure for manual evacuation of faeces under general anaesthetic at a Dublin hospital, has secured €60,000 in settlement of her High Court action over alleged medical negligence.
In approving the settlement made to Joan Griffin yesterday following the death of her son James (13), Mr Justice John Quirke said it was seemingly impossible to understand why such a small amount was allowed for in compensation but that was the law.
Having regard to the law, the settlement had to be accepted, he said.
Earlier, Richard McDonnell SC, for Ms Griffin, Crumlin Road, Dublin, said James became distressed the morning after the procedure on September 10th, 2004, vomited and died later that day from cardiac arrest.
Ms Griffin alleged the defendants had failed to diagnose the true extent of her son’s massive constipation and failed to prevent perforation of the bowel.
The proceedings were against St James’s Hospital, James’s Street, Dublin, and Richard Stephens, a consultant general surgeon, who was allegedly the treating doctor.
The claims of negligence were denied and the settlement is without admission of liability.
Boy bitten by dog awarded 22,000
A three-year-old boy who was attacked by an Alsatian dog has been awarded €22,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
The court heard that Cory Grouse, St Michan’s House, Dublin, who is now aged eight, was left with scars on his chest following the attack.
He had been visiting a friend’s house with his mother in Cabra, Dublin, and had gone next door to the home of Teresa O’Connor, St Attracta’s Road, to play with her son in their back garden.
“As he ran across the garden, he was savagely attacked by the Alsatian which had bitten him several times in the chest,” Mr Quirke said.