A man accused of murdering his co-accused’s former partner with a sword has told the Central Criminal Court he went to the deceased’s flat to scare him, but not to kill him.

The former girlfriend of a murder accused broke down in court today as she told how the deceased, whom she described as a "blade merchant", threatened to petrol bomb her and her baby.

A prosecution witness has told a murder trial jury that he gave a sword to his brother two days before a man was hacked to death in Dublin.

Gardaí investigating the killing of a Dublin man who was hacked to death recovered a sword in the wardrobe of the home of the accused’s friend, a murder trial has heard.

A woman accused of hiring an alleged killer to murder to violent partner told gardaí she had previously paid another man to have him shot, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

A Dublin woman accused of murdering her violent partner signed herself into a psychiatric unit days after the killing, a detective sergeant told the Central Criminal court today.

The trial of two people accused of murdering a man in Ballymun has again been adjourned in the Central Criminal Court for legal reasons.

A murder trial jury has heard how the victim was stabbed and hacked from head to toe in a "sustained and vicious assault" during which the killer attempted to decapitate him.

A murder trial jury has heard how the victim was stabbed and hacked from head to toe in a "sustained and vicious assault" during which his killer attempted to decapitate him.

A man who was stabbed and hacked to death had regularly beaten his partner and threatened to kill her if she left him, the dead man's neighbour told his murder trial.

A prosecution witness has told a murder trial he heard screaming at around 3am on the morning his neighbour was stabbed to death.

A Dublin woman hired a pub doorman to murder her violent partner who was hacked to death and had a sword run through his body from front to back, a joint murder trial heard today.