(Pictured: Mr Jim Mansfield Jnr. Credit: Collins)

Businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr has pleaded not guilty to charges of false imprisonment and perversion of justice at the Special Criminal Court this morning.

Mr Mansfield (52), of Tasaggart House, Garters Lane, Saggart, Co Dublin, is charged with conspiring with one or more persons to falsely imprison Martin Byrne on a date unknown between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, both dates inclusive. This is contrary to Section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

The non-jury court heard this morning that Martin Byrne is now in the Witness Protection Programme.

The accused man ….read more

(Pictured: Robert O’Leary. Credit: Collins)

An “Arthur Daley” type car dealer who supplied a vehicle for a dissident operation to place a bomb under a PSNI officer’s jeep in Belfast has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the non-jury Special Criminal Court today.

Robert O’Leary, who denied the charge and said “never in a million years” would he be involved with the IRA, wrote a letter to the court the day before his sentencing giving an undertaking “that upon release, [he would] not associate with persons or a person engaging in militant or violent Republicanism”. He also undertook not to come ….read more

A Dublin woman has pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to three counts relating to money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Carol Davis (45) of Clonmacnoise Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12, had been accused of 20 offences under Section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 2010 (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) but three guilty pleas were accepted by the State for the three-year period of 2014 to 2016.

At her arraignment at the non-jury court today, Davis pleaded guilty to the offences – on the basis that full facts will be heard in the case – that she knowingly or recklessly ….read more

A Dubliner accused of threatening to kill a woman while hijacking her car and falsely imprisoning her has refused to accept service of an order sending him for trial before the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Trevor Byrne (41) of Cappagh Road, Finglas West was before the court today, after the High Court made an order in September transferring his trial from the Circuit Criminal Court to the three-judge Special Criminal Court, where it was accepted earlier this week.

Solicitor for the State Michael O’Donovan told the court that the charges dated back some time and asked for a month to get witnesses ….read more

A Kildare man has pleaded guilty to five money laundering offences carried out over a number of years.

Jonathan Harding (48), of Kerdiff Avenue in Naas, was charged with 30 offences of laundering crime cash between 1 January, 2012, and 31 December 2016, through accounts held at EBS, Bank of Ireland and AIB.

He was arraigned on five of those charges today before the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of concealing or disguising the true nature of money in his bank accounts, knowing it was the proceeds of criminal conduct. One count covered an account in EBS on ….read more

A 28-year-old Meath man is alleged to be the gunman who tried to murder a father-of-two at a Dublin filling station in 2017, a Special Court trial has heard. A 52-year-old Louth man is also on trial, accused of helping to burn out the car used in the lunchtime shooting.

James Gately was injured but survived being shot five times while he sat in his car on May 10th, 2017 at the Topaz garage on Clonshaugh Road. The 31-year-old, who was from Dublin’s north inner city, was shot in the neck and upper chest.

Caolan Smyth, with an address at Cuileann Court, ….read more

An “Arthur Daly” type used car dealer who supplied a vehicle for a dissident operation to place a bomb under a PSNI officer’s jeep in Belfast will be sentenced later this month at the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC, for the convicted man, submitted to the three-judge court during today’s sentence hearing that there was no evidence his client had knowledge of or involvement in the planting of the bomb.

Last month, the court found Robert O’Leary (42), of Clancy Road, Finglas, Dublin 11, guilty of membership of an unlawful organisation, styling itself as the ….read more

(Pictured: Ms Lisa Smith. Credit: Collins)

A date has been set at the Special Criminal Court for the trial of former Irish Defence Forces member Lisa Smith, who is charged with membership of the Islamic State terrorist group and with financing terrorism.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge James Faughnan, this morning fixed a trial date for Ms Smith of January 11, 2022. It is expected to last 12 weeks.

Last December at Dublin District Court Ms Smith, a 38-year-old from Co Louth, was initially charged with an offence contrary to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) ….read more

Three men appearing before the Special Criminal Court charged with involvement in the attempted murder of Christy Keane by the Limerick-based McCarthy-Dundon crime gang have been served with Books of Evidence this morning.

Mr Keane was shot a number of times as he parked his car on the grounds of the University of Limerick at around 6.35am on June 29, 2015.

Noel Price (42) of Kileely Road, Kileely, Limerick City, is charged that with having knowledge of the existence of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal organisation, that he assisted in making available a vehicle to that criminal organisation with the intention of facilitating ….read more

Four men accused of involvement in the attempted murder of Kinahan cartel target James ‘Mago’ Gately have been served with a Book of Evidence at the Special Criminal Court this morning.

Mr Gately was shot multiple times as he sat in his car at a filling station on the Clonshaugh Road, Dublin 17, on May 10, 2017.

Peter ‘Peadar’ Keating (39) of Rowlagh Green, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, and Stephen Fowler (61) of Blakestown Cottages, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, appeared at the non-jury court charged with the offence under Section 72 (1A) of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

The charge alleges that they between December ….read more