(Pictured: Ms Paula Farrell. Credit: Collins)

The jury in the trial of a Louth woman accused of murdering her boyfriend at her home has ceased their deliberations and will return to the Central Criminal Court on Monday to continue considering their verdict.

The panel of seven men and four women had spent two hours and 39 minutes considering their verdict today when Mr Justice Paul McDermott asked them to suspend their deliberations for the weekend and return to court on Monday morning.

However, the prosecution have called the sexual assault allegation “an outrageous lie” and said it had been told against ….read more

(Pictured: Mr Justice Paul McDermott. Credit: Collins)

A murder trial jury must decide if a 47-year-old woman who stabbed her partner to death was provoked after he allegedly sexually assaulted her on a sofa in her home.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott will finish charging the jurors tomorrow morning in the trial of Paula Farrell, of Rathmullen Park in Drogheda, who has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter for the unlawful killing of Wayne ‘Quilly’ McQuillan (30) at Ms Farrell’s home on New Year’s Day 2014.

Continuing his charge to the jury today at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice ….read more

(Pictured: Ms Paula Farrell. Credit: Collins)

A prosecution barrister has told a jury it is “abundantly clear” that a mother-of-three intended to cause “at least serious injury” to her partner when she picked the biggest knife from a knife block and stabbed him four times with it.

In his closing address at the Central Criminal Court today, Counsel for the State Gerard Clarke SC noted that the prosecution did not have to prove an intention to kill and it was sufficient to prove an intention to cause serious injury.

Mr Clarke also said the accused’s allegation that her partner sexually attacked ….read more

(Pictured: Dr Sally Linehan. Credit: Collins)

A psychiatrist has told a jury she is not satisfied that a woman experienced “a dissociative reaction” when she is alleged to have murdered her partner.

Dr Sally Linehan, testifying on behalf of the prosecution today in the fourth week of the Louth woman’s murder trial at the Central Criminal Court, also told the jury that the accused’s behaviour on the night was influenced by her intoxication and not her mental disorder.

The court has heard that the mother-of-three was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependency at the time she stabbed her ….read more

A jury has failed to reach verdicts in the trial of three young men accused of raping a woman in a car.

The three accused men, who are now in their early 20s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping a woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on January 5, 2016.

The trial heard that three men were all teenagers when they drove the then 18-year-old woman to Dollymount Strand were they are alleged to have raped her one after the other. The defendants say that the woman consented to ….read more

(Pictured: Boakye Osei. Credit: Collins)

Two Ghanaian nationals who raped a “blind drunk” student after bringing her back to their flat have been jailed for nine years.

Boakye Osei (30) of Tooban, Burnfoot and Kelvin Opoku (33) of Cill Graine, Letterkenny, Co Donegal had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the rape of the woman in a town in the county in February 2015.

The woman had been out with her friend in a nightclub and the two women were walking home when they met Opoku and Osei. She got into the car believing the men had offered to take ….read more

(Pictured: Ms Paula Farrell. Credit: Collins)

A 47-year-old woman was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependency at the time she stabbed her partner to death, a psychiatrist has told her trial.

However Dr Brenda Wright, testifying on behalf of the defence today in the fourth week of the Louth woman’s murder trial at the Central Criminal Court, also told the prosecution that PTSD had not played a “significant role” in the killing.

Paula Farrell, of Rathmullen Park in Drogheda has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter for the unlawful killing of Wayne ‘Quilly’ McQuillan (30) ….read more

The jury has begun deliberating in the trial of three young men alleged to have raped a woman and left her in the middle of nowhere.

The three accused, who are now in their early 20s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, have pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping a woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on January 5, 2016.

The trial heard that the then 18-year-old woman was allegedly driven to Dollymount Strand, raped by three men in turn and then left in the middle of nowhere. The three men were all teenagers at the ….read more

(Pictured: Ms Paula Farrell. Credit: Collins)

A 47-year-old woman who stabbed her partner to death during a drunken row did not have the cognitive resources to act in a different manner on the night, a psychologist has told her trial.

Dr Kevin Lambe, testifying on behalf of the defence today in the third week of the Louth woman’s murder trial at the Central Criminal Court, also told the jury that the accused had a very low level of intelligence.

Paula Farrell, of Rathmullen Park in Drogheda, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter for the unlawful killing of ….read more

(Pictured: Accused Mr Aaron Brady. Credit: Collins)

A jury hearing the trial of a man accused of the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe will be asked to return to court in April as the Central Criminal Court responds to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mr Justice Michael White at the Central Criminal Court said the court is continuing to deal with issues in the absence of the jury and the registrar will let jurors know that they are not required until April 21.

The trial, which began in January, was originally scheduled to continue until May 28 and the court had already ….read more