Ireland Crime

Reports the sentencing of Adel Attal to six and a half years' imprisonment (headline 9.5 years, reduced to 7.5, with one year suspended) for the 2 June 2025 stabbing at Rosie Hackett Bridge. Details the circumstances, the victim's injuries and recovery, forensic evidence, and Attal's 21 previous convictions. The co-accused who started the attack is still before the courts.

Reports the jury verdict after more than nine hours of deliberation: acquitted of two rape counts (2009, 2021), convicted of all four counts relating to the two daughters. Remanded on continuing bail; sentencing set for 27 July 2026.

Provides full trial details including witness testimony from the wife and both daughters, the jury's verdicts after nine hours of deliberation, the judge's comments on remand, and the defence's closing arguments.

Court of Appeal dismissed O'Brien's appeal, rejecting arguments that the trial judge's charge was imbalanced, legally incorrect, or that the judge erred in refusing separate trials or in warning the jury about lies not automatically indicating guilt.

Reports the jury's second day of deliberations and Judge Sean Gillane's direction to suspend for the evening, with resumption on Thursday. Confirms the defendant is a serving garda on suspension with no previous convictions, that offending took place at two locations in the northwest, and that all parties have a statutory right to anonymity.

Reports the jury beginning deliberations after closing speeches from prosecution and defence counsel, with the jury charged by Judge Sean Gillane on Tuesday afternoon.

Trial in closing stages; prosecution closed its case; mother-in-law testified about phone call where accused said he wanted to choke her daughter; defence not calling witnesses; trial continues before Mr Justice Sean Gillane and a jury.

Mother-in-law testimony and detective evidence at the closing stages of the trial; prosecution ended its case and defence will not call witnesses.

Reports testimony from the 17-year-old daughter describing specific incidents of alleged cruelty, including physical punishment with sticks and utensils, confinement, weight-related pressure, and strangling, as well as cross-examination details and the fact that the accused moved out of the family home after his daughter's Garda interview.

Reports the 17-year-old daughter's testimony at trial, including the DVD of her Garda interview, describing incidents of physical discipline, emotional abuse, and weight-related pressure spanning her childhood through 2024.

Eldest daughter testifies about Jigsaw journal and home atmosphere; trial before Justice Sean Gillane with jury of 12, expected to run two weeks; all parties under statutory anonymity

Eldest daughter's trial testimony describing the family atmosphere, her Jigsaw therapy referral to Tusla, and her journal; cross-examination over whether she showed the journal to her mother.

Day three of the trial; the 24-year-old eldest daughter (step-daughter) gives evidence about the family environment, including being forced to run daily, being pushed at 18 causing bruising, and her younger sister being made to eat a bucket of KFC until sick. The wife describes two rapes in 2009 and 2021. The accused is a serving garda and the step-father of the daughters. The offending took place at two locations in the north-west of the country.

Reports evidence given at trial by the stepdaughter and the accused's wife, including testimony about the stepfather ripping out earrings, striking with a spatula and sticks, and the wife's testimony about two rapes in 2009 and 2021.

Reports day one of the trial, including the wife's testimony about the 2007 honeymoon incident, the control and pressure in the marriage, the couple's separation in June 2021, and the second alleged rape in November 2021 after she moved back in.

Day one of the trial: opening prosecution speech by Dominic McGinn SC and evidence from the former wife describing the alleged rapes in 2009 and 2021, the atmosphere of fear in the family home, and how the allegations came to light via a Tusla referral.