The wife of a man who was beaten to death with an axe had to be removed from court when his killer was sentenced to nine years in prison.

One man was imprisoned for life while another will be sentenced next Monday for their part in killing a man during an argument over a pedigree chihuahua.

In her victim impact statement, Christopher Nevin’s wife Lisa said a part of her died the day her husband was brutally murdered.

One man was convicted of murder and a second of manslaughter for killing a man with an axe during an argument over a pedigree chihuahua.

An eye witness told the trial that Mr Nevin came screaming out of the house he was in with an axe.

Latest: A man accused of murdering a man in a row over the breeding of Chihuahuas insists he had to use force to defend his friend.

A murder accused took the stand at his trial today and said he had "lost it" when he hit the deceased multiple times with an axe.

Two men accused of an axe murder during a row over chihuahua pups had injuries to their hands and heads following the fatal fight, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A man was killed with a hatchet in a row over a pedigree chihuahua that failed to father enough pups, the Central Criminal Court was told.

Labour has been a party of democratic values, where debate and dissent has been valued, writes Fergus Finlay  

Paul Townend and Willie Mullins shared a double with Childrens List and Westerner Lady in Downpatrick yesterday.

In the 1980s when Labour was having another of its bruising internal upheavals, then leader Frank Cluskey noticed Michael D Higgins was absent. On hearing the TD had gone on an emergency mission to Nicaragua, Cluskey is reported to have said Higgins was taking the easy option of "saving the world over saving the Labour party".

Ireland Davis Cup boss Garry Cahill will take considerable encouragement from Saturday’s excellent performance of his doubles pairing ahead of the relegation play-off against Egypt in Dublin on April 4-6.

A woman has told a court that she was dragged from a car, had a handgun put to her head and asked did she want to live or die.

LIMERICK teenage ace Sam Barry yesterday fulfilled one of his wildest dreams when he had a practice hit with the great Rafael Nadal in London.

THE form book meant nothing as Dublin duo James Cluskey and Barry King turned on the style on the second day of the Green Property Irish Men’s Open at the Fitzwilliam Club.

IRISH Davis Cup ace James Cluskey has put himself in line to capture a doubles title on the ITF Men’s Futures Circuit for the second week on the trot.

LITHUANIA yesterday unleashed a strong verbal volley ahead of this weekend’s Davis Cup showdown with Ireland in Dublin.

Former Labour leader Michael O’Leary, who has died in France, became alienated from politics, writes Paul O’Brien.

THE controversy about whether Seán Haughey was shafted or just plain peed off has been an entirely spurious one.