A consultant psychiatrist employed by the HSE appeared in court yesterday charged with assaulting two gardaí and a pub worker and being drunk in a public place.

One of two brothers on trial for the murder of a Co Offaly farmer told gardaí he hit the dead man with the handle of a shovel, when he made a remark about his daughter who has Down's Syndrome.

A Garda witness has told the jury in the murder trial of two brothers that one of the accused men told him the deceased had insulted his daughter, who has Down's Syndrome, prior to the alleged assault.

A talented sportsman with a promising future who turned to drink and drugs after dropping out of school has been given a two-year sentence for throwing a petrol bomb at a Garda patrol car two years ago.