Brazilian in court over assault

A Brazilian man has appeared in court on three charges relating to an incident which led to the death of a 28-year-old man in Waterford over the weekend.

Juraci Da Silva, aged 35, with an address at John’s Lane Apartments, Waterford City, was arrested by gardaí after James Banville was found fatally stabbed at New Street in Waterford in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Mr Da Silva was held for questioning over the weekend and charged on Sunday night with two counts of assault causing harm and one count of unlawful possession of a knife.

He was brought before a sitting of Waterford District Court yesterday morning.

Detective Sergeant Donal O’Donoghue told the court he formally arrested and charged the accused at 7.57pm on Sunday. The accused made no reply to any of the charges.

An interpreter was present throughout and was also present in court for the brief remand hearing.

Juraci Da Silva was not asked to speak in court.

Inspector Anthony Dineen said there was “a strong objection to bail” and he applied for a remand in custody.

Solicitor for the defendant, Kenneth Cunningham, said his instructions were to reserve his position on bail.

“It will be our intention to seek bail in the not-too- distant future. We will be relying on documentary and potentially oral evidence to support that,” he said.

He asked for the matter to be adjourned to this Thursday in Waterford District Court and Inspector Dineen said he had no objection to that.

Judge Kevin Staunton remanded the accused in custody, by consent, to Thursday and asked for an interpreter to again be present.

Mr Cunningham applied for legal aid and this was also agreed to by the judge.

The accused is charged with assault causing harm to James Banville, assault causing harm to Conor Hogan and that he produced a knife during the course of a fight.