In Short

A roundup of today's other court stories in brief

A roundup of today's other court stories in brief

Man who raped boys remanded

A Dublin man who pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to raping two young boys in city centre locations has been released on bail pending sentencing next year

Mr Justice Paul Carney directed that the man be registered as a sex offender and remanded him on continuing bail for sentence, noting that he did so with the consent of the prosecution on the grounds that gardaí had no objections.

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"Therefore, I don't expect the usual attacks to be made on me by the rape crisis networks for allowing a remand on bail in this case," he said.

The 44-year-old man, who cannot be named at this time for legal reasons, admitted 11 sample charges including anal rape, attempted anal rape and sexual assault on dates from April 2004 to July 2006.

Joel manslaughter case adjourned

Eleanor Joel and her partner, John Costen, who are charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of her severely malnourished mother in Enniscorthy had their case adjourned yesterday.

Appearing before Judge Tom Teehan in Wexford Circuit Court, Ms Joel (32) and Mr Costen (34) of Cluain Dara, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, were further charged with reckless endangerment of Evelyn Joel (59) of the same address on January 7th last year.

When the case was called, Noel Whelan, for the prosecution, told the court that the case would require a special sitting.

Mrs Joel, a mother of two, died six days after she was admitted to Wexford General Hospital on New Year's Day.

She had been suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Man died after injecting cocaine

A Dublin man died from cardiac arrest after injecting cocaine for a second time on the evening of his death, an inquest has heard, writes Georgina O'Halloran.

Christopher Paget (23) of Coultry Lawn, Ballymun was pronounced dead at Dublin's Mater hospital on December 16th, 2006 after he overdosed on cocaine.

A toxicology screening revealed that Mr Paget had a large amount of cocaine in his system at his time of death with 2.4 micrograms per millilitre of cocaine in his blood and more than three times the fatal amount of methadone.

However, the deputy city coroner, Maria Colbert, told the inquest that Mr Paget's death was entirely cocaine related.

A friend of Mr Paget's, Robert Neeson, told the court that he purchased two bags of cocaine on the evening of December 16th and he and Mr Paget had injected the drug twice at addresses in Ballymun.

Handicapped man settles for €2.9m

A 23-year-old man who is mentally and physically handicapped and suffers from epilepsy has secured €2.9 million in settlement of his High Court action alleging negligence in his treatment at a Cork hospital just days after his birth.

The settlement is without admission of liability by the Mercy hospital in Cork.

Mr Justice John Quirke decried the case of Owen Murphy, who was diagnosed with meningitis days after his birth, as "tragic" and said no money could compensate for such "a terrible catastrophe". The court had heard Mr Murphy requires 24-hour care, lost a sister in a car crash two years ago and that another sibling has Down syndrome.