Criminal Law

A man who sought to undermine the credibility of a schoolgirl he sexually abused by introducing text messages she exchanged with a 13-year-old boy as evidence has lost an appeal against his conviction. The 54-year-old Tipperary man, whose details cannot be published to protect the victim's identity,

A man who stabbed his friend to death must serve a minimum of ten years' imprisonment before he can be considered for release by the Parole Commissioners. The man had consumed alcohol and drugs before fatally injuring his friend with a single stab wound.

A man who was convicted of sexually assaulting his two-year-old son while the child’s mother was at work has lost an appeal against his conviction. Finding that the trial judge had correctly admitted hearsay evidence in the interests of justice, Lord Justice Ben Stephens also dismissed the app

Four men have been given life sentences for the murder of a man who was shot in front of his three-year-old child in Bangor in 2017. Stating that the murder had “paramilitary overtones”, Judge Adrian Colton imposed minimum tariffs of between 15 and 16 years for the men who had pleaded gu

Dr Conor Hanly, lecturer at NUI Galway School of Law and author of the 2009 book Rape and Justice in Ireland, writes for Irish Legal News today on the issue of anonymity for rape defendants. The trial in Belfast of Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding for rape brought the issue of defendant anonymity int