A man who dismissed a team of lawyers during his trial for murder, and recalled his own nephew for cross-examination, has had his conviction quashed on appeal.

Tadhg Butler (36), with an address at Seafield in Tramore, Co Waterford but originally from Kilkenny had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the murder of Michael O’Dwyer (25) at that address on January 10, 2014.

Butler dismissed his legal team on day six of his trial for murder and recalled his nephew, Mr Anthony O’Grady, which saw a “radically different version of events put to him” by Butler compared to ….read more

A man who had difficulty accepting his former wife had moved on and started a new relationship has had the suspended part of a sentence for aggravated burglary at her home extended.

Andrzej Topolski (50), with a last address in Castlebar, Co Mayo, had pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at his former wife’s house in Blackfort Manor, Castlebar on March 22 2015.

Topolski had served 11 months in custody awaiting sentence before Judge Rory McCabe at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court suspended the unserved balance of a three-year term on conditions on July 5, 2016.

The Court of Appeal increased the length of Topolski’s ….read more

(Pictured: Denis Casey. Credit: Collins)

The Court of Appeal has upheld the convictions of two former bank executives, jailed last year for a €7.2 billion conspiracy to defraud the public about the true health of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008.

The former head of capital markets with Anglo Irish Bank John Bowe (53), from Glasnevin in Dublin and the former chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent, Denis Casey (57), from Raheny in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to a single count of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear €7.2bn more valuable between March 1 and ….read more

(Pictured: Richard Dekker. Credit: Collins)

A man whose murder conviction earlier this year made legal history as the first recorded after an acquittal, has been granted an extension of time to bring an appeal.

Richard Dekker (30), from the Blanchardstown area of Dublin was unanimously found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last March of murdering 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie in February 2010.

The decomposed body of Mr McAnaspie, who had been in the care of the HSE, was discovered by a farmer in a seven-foot ditch in Rathfeigh Co Meath, 30km from where he had been killed.

Dekker’s conviction came after ….read more

A Kildare man who raped an 11-year-old girl during blindfold games when he was aged 15 must wait to hear the outcome of an appeal against his two-year jail term.

The now 24-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, had pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault in a shed at his home in Co. Kildare on dates in October and December 2008.

He also pleaded guilty to oral rape at his home in April 2009 and in a woodland near his home in May 2009.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that he would set up blindfold games ….read more

The Court of Appeal has been asked to determine whether the courts can activate in part a juvenile’s suspended sentence in circumstances where there was no authority on the matter.

It could not be the situation that in the case of a child, the outcome is either custody or not, the three-judge Court heard.

Barrister David Humphries, who had been prosecuting counsel in the case involving a juvenile who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the three-judge Court of Appeal today that the question related to the interpretation of Section 98 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 and how it related ….read more

Requiring a jury in a criminal trial to explain or give reasons for its verdict is “impractical” and a “recipe for enormous difficulty”, according to the Court of Appeal in upholding a murderer’s conviction.

Garrett O’Brien (40), from Clover Hill in Bray, Co Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 27-year-old father-of-two Seamus O’Byrne at his home in Tymon North Park, Tallaght in March 2009.

He was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and was given the mandatory life sentence by Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley on November 6, 2012.

The three-judge Court of Appeal dismissed O’Brien’s conviction ….read more

A 57-year-old Dublin man jailed for the “intense” sexual abuse of a young relative while she was being cared for in his home, has lost an appeal against the severity of his eight year sentence for indecent assault.

The man, who can not be identified to protect his victim’s identity, was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of 41 counts of indecent assault of the girl at his family home between 1983 and 1986. She was aged between six and nine at the time of the abuse while he was aged between 24 and 26.

The man was sentenced to ….read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld a 13-year-jail term imposed on a man for raping a woman four times in a single incident after inviting her to his home on the pretext of helping him with some painting.

The 40-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury of two charges of rape, two charges of anal rape and assaulting the woman causing her harm at his Laois home on July 19, 2012. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with the final year suspended ….read more

(Pictured: Marek Krol. Credit: Collins)

A man spared jail for sexually assaulting a comatose women, who had parted company from her friends while out socialising, will be sent to jail on Monday following a finding that his original suspended sentence was “unduly lenient”.

Polish national Marek Krol (54), with an address at Clarence Apartments, St Luke’s Cork, had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the 25-year-old woman in Cork city centre on February 1, 2016.

He was given a wholly suspended two year sentence by Judge David Riordan at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on November 2 last.

The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully sought a ….read more