A Tusla child and family agency employee who was caught with thousands of child pornography images claimed to gardaí that he downloaded them in an effort to figure out paedophiles and sex offenders as part of his work.

A bizarre plan to get shot dead or sent to a psychiatric hospital saw a man arming himself with a hammer and knives in a Garda station to provoke a response from armed gardaí.

A teenager bit a chunk of flesh out of the cheek of a 37-year-old man during a fight in Cork City.

A West Cork man accused of breaking his best friend’s cheekbone with a punch to the face after drinking 15 Jaegerbombs, five or six bottles of Heineken, and 10 to 12 shots of tequila has been acquitted.

A West Cork man who denied fracturing his best friend’s cheekbone with a punch to the face on a night out in Union Hall sent a text saying: “Hey lad, sorry about last night. I don’t know what happened. I’ll pay your hospital bill. Sorry.”

A brick was used to beat a man around the head as his attacker left him bleeding on the ground crawling away to get medical help.

Sentencing of a man who smashed a patrol van with a lump hammer and produced knives in a Garda station, hoping he would be shot dead, was adjourned yesterday for a psychiatric report.

A West Cork man aged 53 who plunged the life of a girl of 15 into a very dark place through prolonged defilement, leading to sexual intercourse, was yesterday jailed for four years.

A vigilant detective spotted a bogus workman lying on top of the roof of a house reading a newspaper sparking an investigation which saw a man jailed for 18 months for the scam yesterday.

A taxi driver was robbed of the purse around her neck after driving a man from Cork City to a dark laneway in Buttevant, North Cork.

Amid a sea of human misery there were heartwarming moments: The arrival of a new life and migrants singing happy birthday to a 21-year-old sailor who was happy to forego celebrating his milestone day to ensure they were safe.

A man was ordered to do anger management as he was given a suspended 18-month term yesterday for harassing his wife in 2015.

A Pakistani takeaway delivery driver was shocked to find a man standing beside the open boot of a car wearing a balaclava and pointing a gun at him.

A stash of cocaine worth €31,000 was found under a man’s bed in Carrigaline and yesterday the accused was told he had his priorities wrong in putting his job before his rehabilitation.

A motorist’s decision to drive away after a collision with a child leaving the boy slumped in the middle of the road was described as disgraceful by the judge who jailed him yesterday, writes Liam Heylin of the Irish Examiner.

A motorist’s decision to drive away after a collision with a child leaving the boy slumped in the middle of the road was described as disgraceful by the judge who jailed him yesterday.

Gardaí in Carrigaline, Co Cork, searched the home of a young man who was never in trouble before and found €31,000 worth of cocaine stashed under his bed.

A father whose four-year-old daughter died found himself facing sentencing yesterday on a charge of assault causing harm to a man he met in Cork City in the hours after the funeral.

A woman facing jail for the drunken neglect of her children went back on the drink on Christmas Eve and stole a purse — and yesterday she was remanded in custody for a month pending the sentencing for neglect.

At the height of a series of harassing and threatening phone calls, a Kanturk man told his wife that she should order a coffin.

A judge is considering jailing a social worker after she put the names of children who were never in care on a HSE register in order to defraud the State of nearly €100,000.

Mother of six faces charges of child neglect following blackout

A retired economist from Bulgaria admitted setting up and carrying out a five-year pension scam in Cork that cost the State €45,000.

Two Kerrymen who were jailed two months ago for the “very mean” crime of stealing €11,000 from a 79-year-old Corkwoman for a €400 job on her roof were given suspended jail sentences yesterday.

A man serving a jail term for conning an 85-year-old woman into getting in to her home to steal her handbag had one year added to that yesterday for his part in a similar crime against an 84-year-old woman.

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on whether to return a young, first-time offender to jail for a nightclub glass assault, following an “undue leniency” appeal by prosecutors which raised “significant issues”.

A self-styled vigilante was jailed yesterday for a bizarre incident where he armed himself with a knife and kicked in what he thought was the door of a heroin dealer’s home — but he got the wrong address.

A 79-year-old Cork woman was preyed upon by two Kerry men who quoted her €400 to repair her roof and then went on to get €11,000 in cash payments from her in “a very mean” crime.

A one-man vigilante, trying to stop heroin dealing, kicked in the door of an apartment and shouted at the residents.

An inquest jury has been told to disregard a high alcohol level detected in a blood sample from a 17-year-old killed in a crash, which also killed a woman and her unborn daughter, as it was an “impossible” level.

A 72-year-old former barrister was jailed yesterday on a charge of assault causing harm to a member of An Garda Síochána.

A woman jogging on a sunny Sunday morning in East Cork was killed when she was struck by a car. Yesterday the family of the deceased said it prayed the elderly motorist would find peace.

A man hid in the ladies’ toilet of a McDonald’s fast-food outlet in Cork and sexually assaulted a Spanish visitor.

A late-night dare game called “Odds” resulted in a young man who was never in trouble in his life walking up to a total stranger, punching him in the face, and breaking his jaw. The culprit was jailed yesterday.

A man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a Spanish visitor in the toilets of a McDonald's restaurant in Cork city.

A Spanish visitor using the toilets at a fast-food outlet in Cork City had the cubicle door kicked in and her face and head banged against the floor by an attacker who removed some of her clothing and sexually assaulted her.

A one-year suspended jail sentence was imposed yesterday on a mother who admitted assaulting her own infant daughter by grabbing her forcefully from a stroller and squeezing her, breaking the baby’s ribs, leg and arm.

A young man’s right eyeball was lacerated in a glass attack on a Christmas night out. Yesterday the assailant was sentenced to three years in prison, with the last two years suspended.

A young man’s right eyeball was lacerated when a man struck him with a glass on a Christmas night out. The assailant was remanded in custody yesterday for sentencing on December 15.