A round-up of today's other courts news in brief ...
15 months in prison for sex assaults on boys
A convicted rapist who gave two young boys €13 each after he sexually assaulted them at a car wash and a bus stop has been sentenced to 15 months in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Michael O’Byrne (aka O’Beirne) (31), Cherry Orchard Crescent, Ballyfermot, was identified by one of the boys after his attacker turned up at the same Garda station.
The boy was making a complaint of the assault with his mother, while O’Byrne was signing on at that station at the time as he was on High Court bail for another sex offence. He has since been convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping a young teenager and was jailed for nine years.
He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the then 11 and 13- year-old boys in a Dublin suburb in January 2008. He was registered as a sex offender. His only previous conviction is the recent one for rape.
Judge Martin Nolan ordered that the 15-month sentence be served consecutively to the nine-year sentence O’Byrne is currently serving.
Woman is jailed pending deportation
A woman who lost a bag containing €150,000 worth of cannabis at Dublin airport has been jailed for six years. Customs officials became suspicious when they found Valerie Haape’s bag unattended as it had arrived in Ireland from Johannesburg before her.
Haape (61), Glenheim Hotel, Durban, South Africa, thanked the officials for finding her bag. An X-ray showed a large package containing almost 17kg of cannabis herb. She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importing drugs on February 22nd, 2008.
Judge Martin Nolan directed that the balance of Haape’s sentence be suspended if her deportation was ordered.
50,000 for broken hip after slip on ice
A man who broke his hip after slipping on ice which had formed from water leaking from a mains pipe has been awarded €50,000 damages in his High Court action against Dublin City Council.
Laurence McGuire (64), Willow Park Grove, Glasnevin, had sued the council after falling on ice on a footpath near his home in February 2007.
Mr Justice Michael Hanna said he accepted the council had been negligent but he also held Mr McGuire was 30 per cent liable for the accident because he had tried to walk around the edge of where the ice was.
The judge said he would reduce the damages award to €50,000. He put a stay on the judgment in event of appeal on terms including that €25,000 be paid now to Mr McGuire.
Three years for possessing heroin
A heroin addict trying to quit, who told gardaí he was swapping his drug stash for sleeping tablets to counteract withdrawal symptoms, has been sentenced to three years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Edward Hutton (24), Redmonds Court, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty to possession of the heroin and cannabis resin for sale or supply at his home and in his car in January 2007.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said she had to mark the seriousness of the crime and Hutton’s limited co-operation with gardaí. However she noted he came from a difficult background and had met the case “head-on”. She suspended the final year of the sentence under strict conditions.