A 27-year-old man accused of attacking another man with an ignited firework in Dublin nightclub Copper Face Jacks is seeking to have his passport returned so he can work in the UK.

Oliver Callely, with an address at St Lawrence’s Road, Clontarf, Co Dublin, has been charged with assault causing harm at the Harcourt Street venue on September 6, 2015. He appeared before Dublin District Court on July 2 last. Mr Callely has not yet indicated how he will plead.

At a vacation sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today, Judge Martina Baxter agreed to temporarily relax Mr Callely’s bail conditions for ….read more

(Pictured: Alex Bravo. Credit: Collins)

An arthritis sufferer who was using cannabis to treat his pain has received a suspended jail term after being caught with over five kilogrammes of the drug.

Gardai searched Alex Bravo’s flat in Dublin city centre home on August 3 last year after receiving confidential information that drugs were being held there for a criminal gang.

Bravo (60) pointed gardaí to a suitcase which contained an Iceland freezer bag with five and a half kilo blocks of cannabis resin. The estimated street value of the drugs found was €31,460.

Bravo told gardaí he used cannabis to treat the pain ….read more

An aspiring DJ found concealing heroin between his buttocks in a garda station has been given a suspended jail term of two and a half years.

Judge Karen O’Connor said she was giving Mark Sorahan (44) one last chance at rehabilitation.

Sorahan, of Ferrycarrig Drive, Coolock, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin for sale or supply and obstruction of a garda in the course of a search at Priorswood Road, Priorswood on March 16, 2018.

Sorahan told gardaí he had bought the drugs in an effort to make money to fund repairs to his girlfriend’s car.

Sergeant Killian ….read more

A former psychic convicted of the money laundering of €1.6 million has been jailed for seven and a half years.

Simon Gold (54), with an address of Augharan, Aughavas, Co Leitrim, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to charges including money laundering, theft, deception and control of false instruments on dates between January 1, 2010 and October 22, 2012.

After over two weeks of evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on 20 counts after deliberating for over 12 hours. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on a single count of deception relating to €28,000 transferred ….read more

A man has been jailed for five years after he slashed a woman in the face with a Stanley blade leaving her with injuries that a judge described “as horrible an injury as I have ever witnessed”.

Mark Twomey (21) of Camac Park, Bluebell, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Melody Mbadugha on August 14, 2018.

Dean Kelly BL, prosecuting, said the Director of Public Prosecutions considered the crime to “lie at the high end of the spectrum” for such an offence.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that he had been shown photographs of ….read more

A former post office employee who stole over €23,000 in old age pension payments from 91 customers has been sentenced to three years with 18 months suspended.

Paula Underwood (56) of Oakleigh, Drogheda Street, Balbriggan, Co Dublin pleaded guilty to the unlawful use of a computer, with the intention of making a gain for herself, at Donabate Post Office between July 2008 and October 2013.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Underwood held back certain weekly payments to pensioners and over the course of 156 transactions, stole a total of €23,213 in five years.

The court heard that when the theft came to ….read more

By Rosanna Cooney

A woman who admitted laundering cash stolen from a Cavan-based hardware firm in an email scam was a “puppet” to her abusive partner, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Dubliner Annie Trieu (29) said she did not question her violent partner when he told her to withdraw €34,587 that had been deposited into her account by General Hardware Supplies Ltd in September 2017.

Her lawyer told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that during their relationship Trieu presented herself multiple times to hospital, “battered and bruised” and on one occasion with “staples in her head”.

Sarah Jane O’Callaghan BL told the court that ….read more

A serial possessor of child pornography who continued to view images of underage girls after being investigated by gardaí has been jailed for five years.

Adrian Savage (57) of Bolton Court, Bolton Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of possession of child pornography at various locations in Dublin on March 8, 2016.

Savage also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography at Central Internet Cafe, Dublin 2, on December 24, 2017.

Addressing the court, Savage said that no one “is more conscious than I of the damage done by sexual abuse in our society”.

“To say that I ….read more

By Jessica Magee & Brion Hoban

A man who attacked a tourist in the toilet of a Dublin hostel whom he said had “made advances” towards him has received a full suspended sentence.

Karl McDonnell (27) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm at the Generator Hostel, Smithfield Square on April 15, 2018.

At an earlier sentence hearing, Garda Conor Cahill told Genevieve Coonan BL, prosecuting, that conflicting accounts of the incident had been given by the accused and the injured party, who lives in Switzerland.

Gardaí were called to the hostel in Smithfield where they spoke to a man ….read more

(Pictured: James Wall. Credit: Collins)

By Sonya McLean and Brion Hoban

Four young men who attacked a family home with stones and rocks two days before Christmas, rendering the occupants homeless, have been sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Brothers John (22) and Christopher (23) Connors, along with Paddy Connors (22) and James Wall (19) attacked the family’s Dublin home at 2.45am. Children, including a newborn baby and a girl with special needs were living there at the time.

Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement into the record in which the family said “It was like a nightmare to be honest, ….read more