In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

Woman claims negligence by Gardaí led to rape attack

A woman who claims Garda negligence resulted in her being raped by a man who had just killed his wife has brought a High Court action against the man and the State.

The woman claims she was asked by a garda on May 27th, 1999, if Joseph Kinsella, the husband of her friend Bente Carroll, could stay at her house. The woman claims she was informed Ms Carroll (45) had been found dead some hours earlier and Kinsella could not stay at his own home.

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The woman, a separated mother of four who lived alone in her Dublin home at the time, claims she did not like Mr Kinsella but allowed him to stay because gardaí asked her. While he was in her home, she claims Kinsella raped her at knifepoint.

In her action against Kinsella, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General, the woman claims gardaí were negligent and should never have asked her to allow Kinsella, who had previous convictions for rape, arson and assaulting a garda and who was later convicted of the unlawful killing of his wife, to stay with her.

The woman previously obtained a judgment against Kinsella while he was detained in prison.

In their defence, the State defendants deny negligence and also plead gardaí did not have a full picture in 1999 of Kinsella’s criminal record. The case continues.

Estate agents had signed voluntary code

The Government’s watchdog for estate agents and auctioneers has said it mistakenly left out some names from a list of firms which have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct for the profession.

Responding to an article in yesterday’s Irish Times, which stated the Taoiseach’s brother Barry Cowen and former Fianna Fáil senator Frank Chambers had not signed up to the code, the National Property Services Regulatory Authority said both did so in 2007.

Authority chief executive Tom Lynch said the error occurred when data supplied by the Revenue was updated.

Mobile home must be removed from land

A judge has told a businessman he must remove a plush mobile home from farmland at Grallagh, Garristown, Co Dublin, and reinstate the area to its previous agricultural use.

Barrister John Doherty told the Circuit Civil Court that Darren Teeling, Minster’s Road, Lusk, Co Dublin, had installed the mobile dwelling close to stables there.

Conor Cooney, planning inspector for Fingal County Council, told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery that the mobile home was put on the site in September 2009, but Mr Teeling had undertaken to have it removed in January of this year.

He said he moved it from Bettystown caravan park because he was unable to pay rent for a site there.

Mr Justice Deery granted the orders and directed that the lands, apart from the exempt stabling, be reinstated by January 1st next. He awarded legal costs together with additional €3,800 expenses against Mr Teeling.