(Pictured: Detective Chief Superintendent Declan Daly, of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, speaking to the media outside court today. Credit: Collins)

A married couple convicted of the female genital mutilation (FGM) of their daughter in the first case of its kind in the nation’s history have been jailed.

The couple both pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of carrying out an act of FGM on a then one-year-old girl at an address in Dublin on September 16, 2016.

The 37-year-old man and 27-year-old woman also pleaded not guilty to one count of child cruelty on the same ….read more

(Pictured: Ben O’Reilly. Credit: Collins)

A former youth rugby player who assaulted a transgender escort in her home has received a fully suspended sentence.

Ben O’Reilly (21) formerly of The Old Mill, Ratoath, Co Meath, now residing at Village Green, Kilucan, Co Westmeath, had pleaded not guilty to assaulting Fernanda de Freitas causing her harm and robbing her of cash and her iPhone at her home on May 20, 2017.

On the third day of the trial in December 2019 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, a jury of ten women and two men convicted O’Reilly of assaulting Ms de Freitas and acquitted him ….read more

(Pictured: Jonathan Dargan. Credit: Collins)

The family of a man who died after he was attacked by a former nightclub doorman after chivalrously intervening in a row has told a court their lives were ripped apart by the killing.

After a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last November, Jonathan Dargan (49) was found guilty of killing Patrick Mullally (56) by knocking him to the ground with a punch. Mr Mullally and another man, Shane Cunningham, had approached Dargan on the Harold’s Cross Road Dublin at around 4am on March 6, 2016 to intervene in a row he was having with his ….read more

A child who twice disclosed that she was being sexually abused by her father was called a liar and forced by him to write a letter withdrawing the allegations, a court has heard.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard when she first disclosed the abuse as a nine year old, she was beaten and isolated in a bedroom for several days without access to the bathroom.

Six years later, as a 15-year-old, she disclosed at school what was happening to her and her father forced her to write a letter to the authorities withdrawing the allegations.

The 56-year-old man, who cannot be identified to ….read more

A man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl his wife was minding in their family home.

The 59-year-old man had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of sexually assaulting the then four-year-old child on dates between July 27, 2016 and July 11, 2017.

On the ninth day of the trial on Friday, the jury returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on both counts after deliberating for over five hours.

Judge Elma Sheahan thanked the jury for their care and attention. She remanded the man in custody and adjourned the matter for sentencing on February 28, ….read more

By Brion Hoban and Fiona Ferguson

A mother who repeatedly assaulted her children and threatened to kill them while holding a knife has been jailed for two years.

The woman (37) had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting, ill-treating, and neglecting three of her children at her then address on dates unknown between March 14, 2015 and April 18, 2016.

Following a trial in October 2019, she was convicted of all charges by a jury. The court heard that the accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, continues to deny her responsibility for the ….read more

A Romanian man caught opening Irish bank accounts using fake documentation during a Europe-wide police investigation into money laundering by criminal organisations has been jailed for four and a half years.

Radu Agapie (28), formerly of Timber Mills, Kilmore Road, Artane, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to five counts of control of fake Polish and Hungarian identification cards, four counts of using fake documentation to open bank accounts and three counts of money laundering on dates between July 2018 and July 2019.

Agapie has ten previous convictions in Finland for falsification of documentation, forgery and laundering of proceeds of ….read more

The jury has begun deliberating in the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl his wife had been minding in their family home.

The 59-year-old man had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of sexually assaulting the then four year old child on dates between July 27, 2016 and July 11, 2017.

The child’s mother and the accused’s family had been very friendly for a number of years and her daughter had been minded by both the man’s daughter and wife from the time the child was one year old.

The trial continues tomorrow ….read more

A serious criminal used a vulnerable 17-year-old girl to store a gun and live ammunition, a court has heard.

When gardaí went to the home of Tia Byrne in Dublin’s inner city, she became upset and showed them a handgun wrapped up in socks in a drawer. Gardaí, who were executing a search warrant for drugs, also found five live rounds of ammunition fitting the .38 Smith and Western revolver.

Byrne told gardaí that she had telephoned a man to bring her cannabis and when he came around with it he had left the gun.

In interview she passed two handwritten notes to ….read more

A Starbucks coffee shop in a north Dublin retail park was forced to close because of the number of break-ins, a court has heard.

Garda Brian Judge told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the coffee shop in the Clarehall retail park was unable to renew its insurance after “multiple incidents” of robbery and burglary at the premises.

The business was then forced to shut down last July. A month earlier Jason Brady (34) had used a claw hammer to break into the shop, causing over €1,300 of damage.

Brady, formerly of Moatview Avenue, Priorswood, Dublin pleaded guilty to burglary of the Starbucks and ….read more