A solicitor charged with human trafficking was remanded on continuing bail at Dublin District Court yesterday.
Mr Olaitan Ilori (36), Oak Drive, Blessington, Co Wicklow, is charged with trafficking 14 non-nationals from Mauritius to Ireland at Dublin airport last October 27th.
Garda John McCormack sought a further remand for the DPP's directions. Judge Cormac Dunne remanded Mr Ilori to March 10th.
Man with stolen credit card jailed
A man was spotted in a Dublin city centre street breaking up a stolen credit card which he had just used to buy €340 worth of goods from Brown Thomas, a court heard yesterday.
Chebah Dahmane (27), Sunbury Gardens, Dartry, Dublin, was jailed for four months after a judge was told he had been given a suspended sentence only eight months earlier for theft offences.
Dublin District Court heard that gardaí saw Dahmane in Mercer Street on December 6th breaking up a credit card. He had a bag containing goods which had just been bought from the department store.
Dahmane had a previous conviction last April for theft and received a three- month sentence, suspended for a year on condition that he did not reoffend.
Gas leak causes evacuation
Residents of Gormanston, Co Meath, were evacuated from their homes last night after a gas tanker sprung a leak. Shortly before 6 p.m. gardaí in Drogheda received reports of a leaking gas tanker in Gormanston.
Five units of the Fire Brigade from Dublin, Meath and Louth were sent to Station Road in the village to contain the leak and treat the escaped gas.
Emergency services cordoned off the area around the tanker and a number of houses on the street were evacuated.
A spokesman for the Fire Brigade said the tanker was carrying mercaptain, which he described as "an extremely poisonous and highly toxic substance".
It is a substance added to natural gas to give it its distinctive odour.
House cleaner stole 40 cheques
A 26-year-old house cleaner stole more than 40 cheques from her elderly employees - and made herself richer to the tune of €5,500.
The fraud only came to light when a cheque she forged was found in the car park of the Bank of Ireland branch in Athlone.
Pauline Sheerin, Castle- daly, Moate, Co Westmeath, yesterday pleaded guilty to stealing and forging the cheques over 16 months in 2003 and 2004.
Mullingar District Court heard she stole the cheques from her employers, Mr and Mrs Alvin Kirshner, an elderly couple in their 80s, who live at Streamstown, Co Westmeath.
Sheerin, a single woman who lives at home with her parents, forged Mrs Kirshner's signature on the cheques. Sheerin admitted the offences when interviewed by gardaí, and presented a cheque for €7,000 in compensation.
Mr Kirshner said some other items, including jewellery, linen and bath towels, were also missing. Judge John Neilan adjourned the case to March 10th to allow gardaí time to investigate the other missing items.
Young man dies in car crash
A 20-year-old man was killed in Portlaoise early yesterday when the car in which he was travelling struck a parked, articulated lorry. Mr Thomas Moran from Kilkea, Castledermot, Co Kildare was a back-seat passenger in the car when it was involved in the collision at around 5.10 a.m. on the Dublin side of the town.
The driver and front-seat passenger were injured in the crash and were taken to Portlaoise General Hospital. The driver is thought to be in a serious condition.