A judge hailed the return of a wedding band found on a beach as “a happy ending”, after Gardaí initially requested a forfeiture order after failing to find the owner.

Recreational drug users should be left in “no doubt” that they are supporting gangs that prey on children and murder people, leading experts have said.

A man with 424 previous convictions was ordered by a judge to go back and mop the cell he was staying in after he had urinated in it.

Marius Rucinskas has appeared before Bantry District Court in relation to the new charge.

A man has been charged with racking up thousands in hotel bills and then leaving without paying in a number of locations in Cork and Kerry.

An appeal has been lodged against a 90-day prison sentence handed down to a member of the Church of Scientology for verbally abusing an autism campaigner over the phone.

A visit to a district court here by a delegation of judges from the Eastern European country shows the advantages and disadvantages of both structures, writes Noel Baker.

A man described by a senior garda as “a significant player” in the sale and supply of drugs in West Cork has been jailed.

A homeless man spotted by a priest climbing 30ft up scaffolding to the rear of a cathedral had left his phone charging in the building and was trying to retrieve it, a court has heard.

Two women have been found guilty of assault after a row allegedly sparked on the dancefloor of a nightclub when one defendant began dancing with the boyfriend of the other defendant.

A group of friends stole a keg of Guinness by wheeling it down the road to a house in a shopping trolley.

An allegation that two coats went missing from a bar led to a threat being made to a bar manager and a violent altercation with security staff.

A man has pleaded guilty to a string of offences including criminal damage to a garda station and dangerous driving in two high-speed pursuits across country roads where he drove as fast as 180km/h.

A man has been jailed for punching a garda sergeant in the head when he was being served with a barring order secured against him by his mother.

A man who, along with an accomplice, tracked a 72-year-old woman home from Lidl after clocking her bank card pin, stole the card, and withdrew €700 from her bank account in what a judge later described as a “low and wicked crime” that involved “malevolent surveillance”.

A judge has praised a woman for posting images of her injured face after she was beaten by her then-boyfriend, saying “maybe she is setting the example for others to follow”.

A woman who posted images on social media of her injured face after she was beaten by her then-boyfriend has been praised by a judge as “maybe... setting the example for others to follow”.

A woman could face jail over the theft of bags of coal from a shop on four different occasions last winter.

Gardaí claim that a man purposely drove his car into a garda station, then the following day invaded the back office of the station, knocking over a CCTV monitor and phone, and threatening the garda on duty.

A woman who rammed her boyfriend’s car and also produced a scissors in the course of a domestic dispute has been fined €500.

Earlier this year, an 85-year-old sheep farmer was in court for allegedly allowing her sheep to wander under an 1851 law. What happened next? Noel Baker found out.

A man who said he believes he has saved lives by talking to people who are suicidal has received an eight-month jail sentence for drugs offences.

The crane removing a catch of fish from a boat snapped and part of it landed on a van which had two people inside.

A judge has ordered a man facing criminal charges to be admitted into a psychiatric unit and to be placed on a waiting list for treatment at the Central Mental Hospital after his solicitor admitted he had struggled to get him the treatment he needs while in custody.

Noel Baker The director and assistant director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) have apologised for the mishandling of a case in which a bank is seeking to repossess a house but where the householders lodged an appeal and money was taken from their account, only for the RTB to rule that the bank could proceed.

A woman and her son from Cape Clear island have both received six month suspended jail sentences for the harassment of a fellow islander after revelations of a child born out of an affair.

A mother and her son from Cape Clear island off the coast of West Cork have spent a night in custody after being found guilty of harassing another islander over a period of almost two years in what a judge described as a long campaign of “sustained, deliberate, vulgar, and demeaning abuse”.

A man annoyed because he had to push his child’s buggy onto the road due to a number of parked cars on the footpath later returned with a screwdriver and damaged 27 vehicles.

A man who tried to hide cocaine in his underwear when gardaí searched his house under warrant has received a 10-month jail sentence.

A man stole almost €900 worth of alcohol while on a work break so he could sell the products to cover his gambling addiction.

The scale of an event, the sweep of a narrative can make it difficult to comprehend and, therefore, difficult to resolve.

A judge has said he will have little option but to release a man likely to be found not guilty by reason of insanity unless state services can provide the acute in-patient mental health care he needs.

A man found with cocaine and a weighing scales on his kitchen table when his home was raided by gardaí was caring for his baby son at the time.

The solicitor for Tansanqa Radise told a judge that his client could not get a bed at the HSE's Carraig Mór centre in Cork because he had an address in Dublin.

A judge has told a couple they have two weeks in which to pay almost €40,000 in rent arrears, after a court heard the money is currently in a Swiss bank account.

The former Labour Senator has denied driving under the influence and said he did not provide a breath sample as the correct sections of the law were not read out to him.

A man arrested for driving while uninsured, disqualified and while intoxicated started headbutting the windows of a patrol car, while his female companion struck a garda across the face, a court has been told.

A man in custody for an alleged assault on a pensioner has received two new charges arising out of the same incident and offered apologies when they were put to him by gardaí.

A man has failed in his appeal against a decision by a senior garda not to grant him a taxi licence after a court heard he had not fully disclosed previous convictions when making the initial application.

A man has been found guilty of attacking his then girlfriend by throwing her on the floor, beating her, and then pinning her to the bed in their flat before he then dropped her to work.

A judge has said he may summons the chief executive of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to appear in his court after expressing his "surprise, disappointment and astonishment" at its apparent lack of communication with regard to a live case.

A celebrity-led GAA match involving former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and ex-Chelsea star Gianluca Vialli has landed a publican in trouble — after visiting fans were found on his premises two hours after the bar should have been closed.

A judge has warned that drug users are putting their families in danger due to the drug debts they build up, as he sentenced a man to a month in prison for possession of cocaine.

A man who pushed his pregnant partner in the stomach later turned out to be living under a stolen identity and is wanted by French authorities so he can serve a five-year jail term for people-trafficking.

A judge has refused to dismiss a minor road traffic case because the key Garda witness has been seconded as part of the security detail for the visit of US President Donald Trump.

A man who stripped to the waist and spread himself on the bonnet of a car as he demanded a woman motorist take him home then hurled a bottle at the vehicle, shattering the windscreen, after she refused.

A grandmother has been sentenced to four months in jail after being convicted of possessing drugs for sale or supply — her car and handbag were searched when a garda in the public office of the local garda station smelt cannabis.

A grandmother has been sentenced to four months in jail after being convicted of possessing drugs for sale or supply - her car and handbag were searched when a garda in the public office of the local garda station smelt cannabis.

A domestic dispute spiralled “out of control” leading to a woman repeatedly ramming her boyfriend’s car, with him jumping onto the bonnet of the moving vehicle to avoid serious injury.

A mother has been jailed for 28 days after a court heard her daughter had missed 125 days of school out of the last 156 days she could have attended.