News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

The drama started to unfold in the Carrickmines Manor estate in Sandyford at around 8am last Friday morning when gardai arrived at a house to execute a bench warrant for the man’s arrest.

After gardai broke into the property, the Algerian man armed himself with a knife and lunged at a female officer.

The suspect, who was behaving erratically, then threatened officers and a two hour stand-off ensued with dozens of officers being called.

Eventually the man was arrested after being targeted with a Taser gun.
(Source: The Evening Hearld)

Fermanagh

A teenager jailed for the murder of a traveler hacked to death in front of his wife is to face a retrial, the Court of Appeal has ordered.

Senior judges allowed 18-year-old Martin Stokes' appeal against being convicted of killing John Mongan.

This was due to conflicting witness descriptions and a sense of unease about the safety of the verdict.
Appeals by Christopher Stokes and Edward Stokes, who were also both found guilty of the murder, were dismissed.

Mr Mongan, 30, was attacked with hatchets and other bladed weapons after intruders broke into his home at Fallswater Street, west Belfast in February 2008.

The father-of-three was killed in front of his heavily pregnant wife Julia, suffering up to 50 wounds, some possibly inflicted by a sword or machete.

The killers had smashed through a barricaded bedroom door to get at their target.

The accused, all from Londonderry, were jailed by a judge who told them they had taken the law into their own hands in setting out to "slay" the victim.

All three were found guilty of murdering Mr Mongan and sentenced to a combined total of at least 58 years in prison.

Edward Stokes, 39, was told he would serve at least 22 years of a life sentence, while Christopher Stokes, 35, was given a minimum 20-year tariff.

Martin Stokes, who was just 15 at the time of the murder, was handed a minimum 16-year term.

Mr Mongan's wife, who was due to give birth the day after the killing, described how she had pleaded with the intruders not to attack him.
(Source: BBC News)

Galway

The funeral has taken place of Polish diver Artur Kozlowski in Kiltartan, Co Galway.

The body of the 34-year-old was recovered from a cave in the area last weekend.

Tributes were paid to the extensive work he had done mapping out the underground cave system in south Galway.

The church of St Attracta's in the rural area of south Co Galway was packed to capacity with members of the Polish and Irish communities.

His mother, Yola, and sisters Agatha and Margaret were joined by relatives and friends for the ceremony, which was conducted in Polish and English.

Fr Tommy Marrinan, Parish Priest of Gort, said this was a celebration of the life of an adventurer, who probed great heights and depths.

He said the caves in the area - that Artur loved to explore - were permanently filled with water.

He said it was ironic that his funeral mass was being held in that particular church in Kiltartan, which was submerged four feet in water during last year's floods.

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Nster.com