A nurse convicted of poisoning and assaulting patients in a hospital had been branded "a killer" by sections of the media, her counsel said when her sentence was adjourned by Judge Frank O’Donnell.

A nurse has been convicted by a jury of assaulting two elderly patients at Naas General Hospital and of poisoning one of them three years ago.

A doctor has told a jury that he prescribed Serenase to a patient at Naas General Hospital after he was bleeped because the patient was hitting and kicking staff and was considered a danger to himself and others.