A round-up of today's other court stories in brief:
Detective gets compensation of €128,523
The High Court has awarded a detective garda €128,523 compensation for an assault in which he was hit with a pipe-like metal object and spat at.
Det Garda Anthony Lane (49) was attached to the Garda National Drugs Unit in March 1996. He was off duty at the time.
In proceedings brought by the detective against the Minister for Finance under the Garda Compensation Acts, Mr Justice Daniel Herbert said Det Garda Lane had seen a van drive through a red light. He was with his wife and two children and the van had almost hit them.
He chased the van and showed the driver his warrant card. The man responded by spitting in his face.
The passenger then got out of the van and hit Det Garda Lane on the head and upper body. He took out a pipe-like metal object and struck the detective on the head. Det Garda Lane fell but he was not unconscious.
The passenger then got back into the cab and the van was driven away. His 10- year-old son ran after the van and took the registration.
At the time there were a number of people present but none of them came to his assistance.
The incident had been investigated and the owners of the van identified but Det Garda Lane found it incomprehensible that the matter had not been pursued.
Mr Justice Herbert also found that the alcohol abuse problem Det Garda Lane had developed as a result of the incident was caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sexual assault sentence adjourned
A Dublin man's sentence for aggravated sexual assault has been adjourned by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court to ascertain if he will undergo psychiatric assessment. He had previously been jailed for rape.
Mr Justice White said the defendant seemed to "thumb his nose" at society when he was released from his rape sentence.
Niall Healy (30), Palmerstown Woods, Clondalkin, was convicted last month of the aggravated sexual assault of a now 24-year-old woman whom he had offered to drive home, by agreement with her boyfriend, almost five years ago.
He was also found guilty of false imprisonment, sexual assault and assault causing harm in July 2001
Insp Kevin Gralton told Paul Carroll, prosecuting, that Healy was jailed for 12 years on June 22nd, 1993, for rape. The final six years of that sentence were suspended by Mr Justice Vivian Lavan and the suspension was to run from June 22nd, 1998, to June 22nd, 2005.
Insp Gralton told Mr Carroll that as the suspended term was now "spent", there was no application for it to be reactivated.
Man loses bid to stop murder trial
A Dublin man charged with murder has lost a High Court bid to stop his trial on grounds of delay in prosecution and prejudicial pre-trial publicity. The victim was stabbed near a bus stop nearly five years ago.
Brian Rattigan (25), Cooley Road, Drimnagh, had taken judicial review proceedings aimed at halting his prosecution on a number of grounds, including culpable delay on the part of the prosecution and prejudicial pre-trial publicity.
Mr Rattigan has been charged with the murder of Declan Gavin (20), on Crumlin Road, Dublin, on August 25th, 2001.