Four criminals were contracted in Lithuania to target a Galway jewellers where they carried out an armed robbery stealing €1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches.

A man arrived from Lithuania a couple of days before a €1.1m armed robbery took place at a Galway city jewellers, a trial heard today.

Fragments of glass found on the clothing of a man suspected of involvement in the armed robbery of a jewellers last year did not match glass samples taken from the store, a forensic scientist told a trial yesterday.

A man who denies involvement in the armed robbery of over €1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches from a Galway city jewellers was wrestled to the ground a short distance from the scene by two gardaí who were assisted by three passersby, a trial heard today.

Two holdall bags, containing over €1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches, were discovered under a bush on the banks of a lake in Galway city shortly after an armed robbery had taken place in a city centre jewellers, a trial in Galway heard today.

‘If I send him to prison, taxpayer will have to pay for his upkeep’

A 39-year-old mother has been sentenced to four-and-a half years in prison with the final six months suspended for beating, starving and neglecting seven of her children over five years, often leaving them for days in the care of strange men, one of whom was a paedophile.

Mother who beat and neglected seven children to be sentenced next week as court hears of their anger

A man who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old schoolgirl, who was working alone in a small country shop, and later followed and accosted her in his van as she walked home, has been placed on probation for a year.

A grandmother who posted soiled underwear to a couple she had been harassing for years has been sentenced to three years in prison with the final two years suspended.

Three men have received suspended sentences for growing €24,000 worth of cannabis plants in a forest clearing on the largest uninhabited island on Lough Corrib.

A jury yesterday found a mother, aged 39, guilty of beating, starving, and neglecting eight of her children over a number of years, at a time when she claimed over €160,000 in social welfare payments.

Two boys have told a jury their mother made them swallow washing-up liquid, while one claimed she pushed him down the stairs twice and then lied to hospital staff about his injuries.

Care staff who called unannounced to inspect the welfare of eight children found no food in the house and barely enough milk for a baby’s bottle, the trial of a mother charged with cruelty and neglect heard today.

A young woman told a jury yesterday that shortly after she was taken into care by HSE social workers in 2011, then aged 14, she was allowed spend a night with her mother who plied her with drugs until she got sick.

A bread man yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a schoolgirl working in a shop last summer.

The trial of a 39-year-old mother, who faces charges of cruelty and neglect towards eight of her children over a six-year period, collapsed yesterday due to technical difficulties at Galway courthouse.

A 39-year-old Romanian man has been sentenced to three years in prison for handling statues and other religious ornaments which were stolen from graves in Lackagh and Annaghdown, Co Galway, four years ago.

A wheelchair-user paedophile sentenced to five years for indecent assault was transported to Castlerea Prison — and then brought home again — because he could not be accommodated at the jail this week.

A paedophile who had unrestricted access to a seven-year-old girl after befriending her family and subsequently acting as a babysitter, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for using her to produce child pornography and for sexually exploiting and assaulting her over a three-year period.

A wheelchair user has been sentenced to five years in prison for indecently assaulting a girl during the 1980s.

A Connemara builder has been sentenced to seven years in prison with the final three years suspended for 10 years for an assault on traditional Irish musician, Noel Hill, in a pub toilet on St Stephen’s night seven years ago, which has left the victim with lifelong injuries.

A law graduate has been sentenced for five years in prison with 18 months suspended for setting fire to a medical student in a Galway nightclub three years ago.

A teenager drowned when the speeding, overcrowded car in which he had been a front-seat passenger lost control and ended up in a waterlogged drain.

A fearful teenage mother says her former boyfriend is torturing her in her dreams following their break-up.

A seven-year-old girl was forced by family friend to wear her mother’s dress and make-up and lie across a pool table in provocative poses while he took explicitly sexual photographs of her on his mobile phone, a trial has heard.

Man serving 8 years for robbing prostitutes gets concurrent term

A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison with the final 18 months suspended for having video and photographic images of children and babies, some as young as three months, engaging in explicit sexual activity with adults and other children.

A drugs mule, caught sitting on a bar stool with a rucksack full of drugs beside him, has been sentenced to five years in prison with the final two years suspended with conditions attached.

A builder will be sentenced in July for an assault on traditional Irish musician Noel Hill in a pub toilet on St Stephen’s night seven years ago. The victim was left with lifelong injuries.

The trial of former property developer Kevin McGeever for wasting Garda time in relation to a six-month investigation into his alleged kidnapping two years ago has been adjourned to May.

Former property developer Kevin McGeever is to stand trial in February charged with wasting Garda time in relation to a six-month inquiry into his alleged kidnapping last year.

A helicopter pilot has been fined €20,000 for flying dangerously low over thousands of people attending the busiest day of Ballinasloe Horse Fair three years ago.

A 41-year-old man will be sentenced on Friday for causing the deaths of two baby sisters near Tuam, Co Galway, 18 months ago.

A grandmother who stole a 92-year-old woman’s life savings of €41,000, has been given three months to repay €10,000 or else go to prison for two years.

A man who punched, kicked, and stamped on a terminally ill and defenceless man before being stopped by onlookers from throwing him into a canal has been jailed for five years with the final year suspended.

A 36-year-old employee with a serious gambling addiction has been given a suspended two-year sentence for stealing almost €50,000 from a Brown Thomas store in Galway.

The trial of a priest charged with the sexual abuse of two brothers in a Co Galway school in the 1970s collapsed at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

Four men accused of cutting turf illegally have been sent forward for trial to the Circuit Criminal Court.

A Corkman who had videos on his computer of children being raped, was caught when he reported his car stolen to gardaí.