A round-up to today's other court stories in brief
Dismissal of Cadbury sales rep restrained
The High Court has granted an interim order restraining the dismissal of a long- serving sales representative with Cadbury Ireland Ltd. Kevin Costello, Pinewood Park, Rathfarnham, had been with the company for 29 years, the court heard.
Tom Mallon, for Mr Costello, said the purported dismissal arose after a remark made by Mr Costello to his boss, which he had intended as a joke, at a dinner last February.
Before that, there had been no complaint about Mr Costello's work but thereafter complaints were made about his performance culminating in a purported dismissal last Monday.
Mr Justice Michael Peart also granted an order restraining the removal of a car used by Mr Costello for his work.
Man guilty of sex assault on boy
A man living in Kerry has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young boy by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury.
The man, who cannot be named in order to protect his victim's identity, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the boy between May 1st, 2001, and October 17th, 2002. The jury reached an 11-1 majority verdict after just under 2½ hours.
Giving evidence via video link, the boy, now 10, told barrister Mary Rose Gearty, prosecuting, that he used to know the accused man and he said they were friends "until that thing happened". This was "quite a while back, a few years ago", but he could not remember the year of the offence.
Another witness told Ms Gearty he had accused the man of interfering with his friend's son. He said he started crying and said he was sorry and that he had been drunk.
Judge Frank O'Donnell remanded him in custody to a later sentence date.
Appeal against drugs term fails
A drug addict who acted as a courier for €174,000 worth of heroin has lost his appeal against a seven-year prison sentence.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday dismissed the appeal against severity of sentence by Eoghan Doyle (27), St Aongus's Green, Tallaght, Dublin, who pleaded guilty to possession of heroin in Tallaght in October 2004 and was jailed for seven years by Judge Donagh McDonagh in November.
Doyle's counsel, Patrick Gageby SC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday that Doyle was a drug addict who "never profited by a penny from this business".
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, presiding at the three-judge court, said the court could not ignore the amount of drugs involved, which was a " significant consignment", nor could it ignore the fact that Doyle had 12 previous convictions, two of which related to drugs, he added.
Three years for drug-smuggling
A Nigerian national who passed cocaine valued at €39,000 through his body has been jailed for three years by Judge Michael White at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Barthi Okoye (26), Cabra Park, Phibsboro, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having the cocaine in February last year. He had been resident in Ireland since 2000.
Det Garda Jarlath Burke told Seán Gillane, prosecuting, that Okoye was taken into custody at an address on the North Circular Road as a result of confidential information and spent some days in hospital before the cocaine passed through his body.