Co. Mayo • 75 court reports
Cases and rulings mentioning Ballina from local newspapers and Courts News Ireland.
A yoga student banned for life from his teacher’s studio after an “outburst” about his opposition to celebrating Christmas last year has lost his claim for religious discrimination. Enniscrone, Co Sligo man Peter McKeon had pursued a complaint under the Equal Status Act 2000 agai
An "unfortunate situation" has led to the discharge of a jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering his friend in circumstances of "almost indescribable savagery". Liam O'Leary (33) had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 58-year-old John Casserly at a Peter McVerry Trust ho
A then-teenager who attacked another youth with a broken claw hammer during a violent brawl outside a school has had his sentencing hearing adjourned at Castlebar Circuit Court. Taylor Moran (23) of McDermott Street, Ballina, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm outside St Mary
A murder accused told gardai that he was acting in self-defence when he "smashed" his flat mate's face with a glass and "gouged his eye out" after the deceased told him "you are dying tonight" and came at him with a knife. The defendant Liam O'Leary added: "I killed a man tonight
A witness has denied seeing a neighbour who was killed in an "almost indescribably savage" way moments earlier "beating the s**t out" of the man accused of his murder using a metal pole. Declan Forde today gave evidence in the trial of Liam O'Leary (33), who has pleaded not guilt
The occupant of an apartment where a man died in "almost indescribably savage" circumstances has told a murder trial of how she and her son "fled" for their lives after the accused barged into her home and told her he needed sex. Joanna Forde said she got a feeling of "absolute d
An "incredibly kind" man died in circumstances of "almost indescribable savagery" involving serious violence, having had one eye removed from its socket and a knife inserted in his anus, a barrister has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court. Dean Kelly SC today opened the tri
A 33-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to a murder alleged to have occurred at a Fr Peter McVerry Trust housing unit two years ago. Mr Justice Paul McDermott swore a jury of nine men and three women to hear the trial of Liam O'Leary, which will begin tomorrow and is expected to
A Co Mayo man has been jailed for 11 and a half years for abusing five children over a period spanning almost two decades. David Langdon (61) of St Patrick’s Estate, Ballina, pleaded guilty days before his scheduled trial at Castlebar Circuit Court last year to seven sample count
A Mayo woman found with €62,000 of cannabis herb told gardaí she was holding the drugs under duress because of a drug debt. Bernadette Muldoon (40), of St Patrick’s estate, Ballina, pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs for sale or supply at a different address in the same estat
A driver who hit and killed a young man at a pedestrian crossing in Co Mayo – with the victim using his final moments to save his niece's life – has received a fully suspended sentence. James Moyles (33) of Mount Assumpta Terrace, Ballina, suffered fatal injuries when he was stru
A yoga student who found himself banned for life from his teacher’s studio after an alleged “outburst” about his opposition to Christmas last year has accused her of discriminating against him on religious grounds. In her evidence however, the yoga teacher told a tribunal that th
Three men who targeted and "brutally" assaulted Tom Niland, a vulnerable pensioner who they beat to death in his own home, have been sentenced to a combined 43 years in prison. Sentencing the men today, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the victim was a kind man who was entitled to
A man who viciously” assaulted his friend in front of his young daughter and threatened him with a hammer has been given a suspended sentence at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court. Alex Masuku (34) pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and possession of a weapon at Cloonishlawn, B
Three remorseless' criminals who beat pensioner Tom Niland to death in his home to steal his money had a combined total of 106 previous convictions, a court has heard. One of the three, John Irving (31), had 57 convictions including those for burglary, theft, arson, criminal dama
A Mayo woman who was seriously injured when she was knocked down by a Bus Éireann van in Ballina last year has said she bears no grudge' to the driver. Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court heard that Ann Bourke (60) was briefly trapped under the van after the collision on Kevin Barry
Five days into his trial for the unlawful killing of 73-year-old Tom Niland, who was beaten by three men and left to die in the rural home where he lived alone, John Irving this morning changed his plea to guilty. Irving (31) became the third person to plead guilty to manslaughte
A jury has viewed CCTV footage showing 73-year-old Tom Niland walking into a shop near his house in Sligo about two hours before it is alleged three men broke into his home and assaulted him, leaving him with injuries that caused his death 20 months later. Garda Niall McDonald to
Pensioner Tom Niland was so badly beaten during an alleged home invasion that his neighbours did not recognise him walking along the middle of the road covered in blood, wearing odd shoes and with his eyes swollen shut, a Central Criminal Court trial has heard. Mr Niland's neighb
A man has admitted dangerous driving causing the death of another man on Lord Edward Street, Ballina, Co Mayo last year. Keith O’Brien (49) of Lowvalley, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, was arraigned at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court today before Judge Eoin Garavan. Mr O’Brien pleaded gu